The Unexpected Surprise
by fifthharmony297
Summary: Michaela was just trying to live life day by day trying to get used to the new life she was living when it decides to throw her a curveball that will change her life forever.
1. The Disappearance

Disclaimer: everything written in this chapter are my own ideas

Michaela's POV

It had been a full week since we pretty much came back from the dead. For me, my brother, my nephew and the rest of the passengers that flight had only been a few hours. Imagine what went through our minds when we found out that we had been missing for five and a half years. I didn't want to believe it, but the moment I saw my dad and he told us about our mother's sickness and her passing, I knew that what was happening wasn't a nightmare.

"Hey are you okay?" Jared asked me.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't realize that I zoned out mid conversation. I had decided to go into work today and it was just my luck that Jared made a b-line for my desk the minute he saw me and immediately tried to start a conversation.

"Uh yeah I'm totally fine" I replied back.

"Are you sure because it didn't look like you were just fine a second ago?" he said

"Yeah I am. I promise I was just thinking that's all." I said

"Would you mind sharing your thoughts?" He said

"Yeah maybe that's not the best idea." I said

"Mic you know that you can talk to me right?" He said

"I know I can, but things are much different now then they used to be so if you don't mind letting me deal with this on my own that would be great" I said

I didn't want my response to sound rude or aggressive but I just got a little frustrated with him and it came out that way. The awkwardness surrounding us was so intense I decided that maybe it was a perfect time to get up and get that much needed coffee. So that's exactly what I did. I knew he was watching me leave since I had this feeling that someone was watching me as I walked away.

It had been a week since my awkward conversation with Jared. Since then he has tried to get me to open up, but all his attempts have failed miserably. As I was sitting at my desk going through some paperwork I suddenly felt sick. I had noticed that recently I hadn't been feeling well and the smell of my coffee on my desk wasn't helping me right now. After a little while, I started feeling better so I just let it go. I guess someone decided to bring in bagels for breakfast today and the smell of the everything bagels in the bag got to me all of a sudden and I got nauseous. So I got up and ran to the bathroom and once I got there I got sick. After I cleaned myself up and I decided that maybe it was better if I went home since the feeling of nausea wasn't going away. I headed out and went towards the captain's office.

"Hey I'm not feeling so great I don't know what came over me. Is it okay if get the rest of the day off?" I asked

" Yeah sure do you need someone to take you home?" He replied

"No I'll be fine, but thank you" I responded

"Okay well feel better. Will you be coming in tomorrow?" He said

"Yeah I'm coming in. It must have been something I ate yesterday. I should be good as new after some rest." I responded

"Okay I'll see you tomorrow then." Riojas said

"Yeah see you tomorrow." With that I left his office and started heading towards the exit of the precinct. I was thankful that Jared had been called out for a case. Had he been here he wouldn't have left me alone until he drove me home himself.

Once I got home I went straight to my room. The car ride home made me feel a lot worse. I went straight to the bathroom and yet again I got sick. After I was done in the bathroom I started thinking about what I ate the night before. The chicken I ate must have been the cause for my sickness this morning. I decided that some sleep should make me feel better. I headed towards my room once inside I got changed into more comfortable clothes then the ones I was wearing. When I woke up it was already 4pm and I was feeling a little hungry. I felt so much better than I did before I fell asleep which I found a little weird but I let it go.

I went to the kitchen to make something to eat. I saw that there was chicken in the freezer and I made sure to avoid it just in case that was what caused my sickness.

After I made myself something to eat I decided that I would go back to sleep because I still felt a little tired. I went back to my room I found it really weird that I was feeling this way since I usually never get sick. As I was on my bed I was thinking of my symptoms; I was getting nauseous, I was getting really tired and the smell of food was now an issue. I had been feeling tired recently, but I blamed it on the fact that the last week has been so stressful. When it hit me, I was supposed to get my menstrual cycle while I was on vacation at Jamaica, but now that I think about it I never got it. We have been back for a week and a half which means I haven't had my cycle in 6 weeks.

All of the color left my face when the realization hit me. I needed to confirm what I was thinking so I got up got changed and headed to the nearest drug store. Once I got there I headed straight to the aisle where all the pregnancy tests were. I grabbed four of clear blue pregnancy tests because I needed to be sure. Once I got home I went straight to the bathroom and opened up all four. I left them on the counter and left the bathroom. The instructions on the back of the box told me I only needed to wait five minutes for the results to pop up. For some reason five minutes seemed like a lifetime. I tried to take my mind off of it by organizing a few things in my room and once the five minutes were up I didn't want to go to the bathroom to look because I was so scared. I bucked up the remaining courage I had and walked to the bathroom. I went to the counter where I left the tests and what I saw shocked me to my core.


	2. The Results

How is this even possible? As I looked at the results all four tests said the same thing, positive. I honestly don't know what to think. If I had found this out five and a half years ago I would have been shocked, but ecstatic. Right now I feel shocked and a little scared. None of us on that plane aged a day so now that I really think about it it doesn't surprise me that my baby hasn't died or grown. The biggest issue at hand is whether or not I'm going to tell Jared and how I'm going to tell him if i ever decide to do it. Him and Lourdes have a good life together and that's not something I want to ruin. Even though Lourdes married my fiance she had been trying really hard at winning back my friendship.

For now the only thing I have to worry about is making sure my baby is okay and healthy which means I need to make a doctor's appointment. I also need to find a place to hide the tests so that no one finds them. I decided to hide them in one of drawers. I sat on my bed just thinking about my life and how I got to this point. I feel like everything has been so complicated lately. Everything that happened with Evie, disappearing, coming back from the dead five and half years later, finding out my best friend and my fiancé got married to each other and now this. I decide to get up and take a walk around the neighborhood even though it's mid-November and it's cold outside.

When I step outside my worst nightmare came true. I see Jared pull up in front of the house and since I'm outside I can't get out of not talking to him. As he gets out of his car I contemplate just going inside and pretending that I never saw him, but I didn't do that instead I chose to stay and try and have a quick conversation.

"Hey I heard that you went home early?" Jared said

"Yeah I wasn't feeling too good this morning so I decided to go home and get some rest." I responded

"Are you okay? what happened?" He asked

"Nothing major just got sick from the chicken I ate for dinner yesterday I should be as good as new by tomorrow. But I'll see you tomorrow I'm going for a walk." I said

"Why do I get the feeling that your trying to avoid me?" He asked

"No why would you think that?" I asked him

"Well how about the fact that it looks like your trying desperately to get away from me right now." He said. Now that I think about it I guess it does look like I was trying to get away from him. I'm not going to deny that getting away from him was intentional I just didn't want him to think that.

"What no. I promise I'm not trying to get away from you I just really want to go for that walk I think the fresh air might make me feel a lot better and I would do anything for me to feel better." I responded hoping that he would believe my lie and not ask anymore questions.

"Okay well I guess I'll see you tomorrow at work" Jared said

"Yeah I'll see you tomorrow" I said and with that I started walking away. I heard him open up his car door and start the car as he passed me he waved so I waved back. That was the hardest conversation I've ever had. I hadn't made up my mind yet over telling him about my pregnancy, but keeping that information

from him right then was a little hard. I wanted to tell him that we were going to have a baby, but I knew that it wasn't the best idea.

It had been a few days after I found out that I was pregnant and I had gone to my first appointment. The baby is perfectly healthy and I'm about 7 weeks pregnant. So far I've been able to hide the fact that I get sick every morning but I think people, especially Jared, are starting to get suspicious of the amount of times I go to the bathroom in the morning. Jared hasn't asked me about my constant bathroom trips yet, but I don't doubt that he won't soon. I still haven't made a decision on whether I should tell him or not, but I know that I'll have to choose soon. Being at the first doctors appointment by myself was scary, especially because I was on my own. I kind of wished that Jared was with me sharing every moment, but that's a far fetched idea right now.

I haven't gotten a calling in almost a week and I don't know if I should be happy about that or just worried that it may come soon. Some of these callings allowed me to help others, but there have been times where it has only gotten me into trouble. Ben hasn't gotten any recently either, but we have been in contact with passengers that came back to the plane some of them had the same calling about a week ago, but it's been silent ever since.

"Hey what are you up to?" I asked Ben when I got home.

"Hey, I'm just looking online for a job." He said

"Have you found anything yet?" I responded

"No not yet, but hopefully soon I'll find something." He said I went to turn around when his next question stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey Mic are you okay? I feel like you've been a little more quiet lately?" He asked. In that moment I started contemplating whether or not I should tell Ben the truth. I know I can trust him to keep my secret, but I can't help but feel skeptical about telling him.

"Uh yeah I'm perfectly fine." I said

"Are you sure?" He persisted. In that moment I decided to tell him not only for the reason of being able to trust him, but also because I'm hoping I will feel less lonely knowing someone else knows my secret.

"Actually no i'm not okay. If I tell you a secret can I trust that you won't tell anyone about it not even Grace?" I asked him

"Mic you know you can trust me with anything." Ben responded

"Please Ben I need to hear you're say that you promise to keep my secret?" I implored

"Okay I promise that I'll keep your secret. Now tell me what's going on?" He said

"A few days ago I wasn't feeling too good. Do you remember that day I came home early from work?" I asked him

"Yeah I remember. Why?" He asked

"Well it turns out that I wasn't sick because of the chicken I had ate for dinner the night before." I hesitated before telling him the next part. "I'm pregnant Ben" after a few seconds I then added "with Jared's baby". I watched as my brother sat there in silence. It got to the point where the silence was killing me.

"Please Ben say something?" I said

"I don't know what to think. Are you one hundred percent sure your pregnant?" He asked

"Yes I'm one hundred percent sure. I took four tests and I already went to my first appointment. The doctor told me that I'm about seven weeks pregnant and that the baby is healthy" I told him

"Well congratulations Mic, but how is this even possible?" He said

"How is any of this possible? We came back from the dead Ben and we haven't aged a day. Look at Cal he was given two months to live, but somehow he was able to live five and half years more" I replied

"Are you going to tell Jared?" He asked the one question I was hoping to avoid, but I knew that by telling him I wouldn't be able to avoid answering this question.

"I don't know yet. I don't want to ruin the life that him and Lourdes have created for themselves. What do you think I should do?" I asked him

"Well I think that you should go with whatever your heart is telling you to do. So what is it saying?" He asked me

"My heart is telling me that I should tell him. Telling him means I have a chance of getting him back and becoming a family, but my head is telling me that I should let him live his life with Lourdes and not add this complication in there." I told him

"Well who do you want to listen to?" He asked me

"I love him Ben and you know that. For me we were together two weeks ago, but for him it's been five years. I want to listen to my heart, but I don't know if that's the best idea." I replied

"Mic you were given a second chance at life don't waste it." Ben said to me

"But what if this ruins my friendship with Lourdes?" I said

"That's just something you're going to have to live with." He replied. Ben got up from the chair he was sitting in and moved forward to hug me.

"Thank you Ben for everything" I said into his hug

"What are big brother's for." He said

"Okay I'm going to head upstairs and take a bath" I told him. He nodded at me and I started to walk to my room.

As I was taking my bath I thought about the conversation I had with Ben in the kitchen. I still love Jared I love him so much that it hurts knowing that he is married to my best friend and I really don't want to ruin the relationship they both have, but I need to at least try and get my happiness back. So I decided that it was time to tell him the truth.


	3. The Truth

The next morning I came into work and yet again the morning sickness was hitting me like a brick wall. Almost immediately after I stepped foot into the precinct I was heading towards the bathroom. When I came out low behold I found Jared waiting for me outside.

"Hey I saw you come in and run towards the bathroom are you okay?" Jared asked me.

"Yeah I'm totally fine no need to worry about me." I responded back

"Why are you lying to me Michaela? I've known you forever I know when your not telling me the truth. I've let you go on with your lies for a while, but now I want the truth. Please Michaela?" He implored

"Like I said I'm perfectly fine. You need to stop worrying about me." I replied back

"You know I can't do that, Mic." He told me.

"You need to start letting me deal with my problems alone." I said. I almost told him right then and there and as much as I wanted to I got scared and decided that telling him in the middle of the precinct with lots of watchful eyes was not the best place to drop a bomb on him. So I walked to my desk and started my workday.

By the end of the day I packed up all my things and was ready to head home. I couldn't wait to get to my bed and just go to sleep. Today's events seriously made me tired. As I was heading out Jared stopped me.

"Hey wait up." He said as he was trying to catch up to me "Can I take you home?" He asked me

I was initially going to tell him no until I realized that I would have the opportunity that I needed to tell him about the baby. So I decided to agree to his offer.

"Yeah sure why not." I replied back to him.

"Okay great let me just grab my things and then we can head out." He said to me

"Okay" was my reply back. I watched him walk back to his desk and pack up his things. Then I saw him head back towards me and I quickly looked in a different direction that way it didn't seem like I was staring at him.

"Okay let's go." He said once he reached me. We walked towards his car and got in. The car ride to Ben's house could be defined by two words. Awkward silence. The entire car ride I was trying to muster as much courage that I had to be able to tell him about the pregnancy. Once we got to the house and the car came to a stop I knew it was now or never.

"Okay what I'm going to tell you something right now and it is going to shock you and I know that you'll have something to say, but I need you to let me talk and get through this and then you can say something. Can you promise me that you can do that?" I asked him

"Yes I promise." He replied back

"Okay you're right I haven't been telling you the truth lately and it hasn't been because I didn't trust you, but because I was too scared to say anything. That day that I went home sick I thought it was because of the food I ate the night before, but it turns out that it wasn't. I found out that day that" I hesitated saying that I was pregnant. I was scared and nervous at the same time not the best combination.

"That you were what Mic?" He asked me after a while of my silence

"Jared I found out that I'm pregnant. With your child." I finally was able to get it out. I could see the shock on his face the moment the words left my mouth.

"Turns out that I was pregnant before the plane disappeared and since none of us in the plane aged a day it explains why the baby hasn't grown either in the last five and half years." I told him.

"Are you sure?" He asked me. It was the first thing he has said since I told him the news. His question reminded so much of my conversation with Ben since he asked me the same thing when I told him.

"Yes I'm one hundred percent sure that I am pregnant. I went out and bought four pregnancy tests that day and used all of them. The results all came out to be the same. They were all positive. Once I saw the results I decided to make an appointment with a doctor to confirm the pregnancy. I went there and they told me the same thing that those tests told me. The doctor told me that I'm about 7 weeks pregnant which confirms that I was already pregnant before the plane disappeared." I explained to him.

"I'm going to be a father." He stated

"Yes you are" I responded back even though I'm pretty sure his question was rhetorical.

In that moment he did something that surprised me and that I never expected for him to do. He reached for my face and moved my face towards his. Next thing I knew he kissed me. I knew that I missed being with him, but this kiss really reminded me how badly I missed our relationship. I lost myself in him and the next thing I know the kiss is over.

"What was that for?" I asked him

"I've been trying to ignore my feelings for you, but ever since you came back that's been an impossible thing to achieve. I love you Michaela and I'm hoping that you still love me?" He said

"Of course I still love you Jared. How could I not? To me we were in a relationship not even a few weeks ago. I've tried to move on since I came back, but I can't." I told him

"Do you still want to be with me?" He asked me

"Of course I still want to be with you, but your married now Jared and to my best friend of all people. We can't be in a relationship anymore. I told you about the pregnancy because I believe that you have a right to know about our baby, but I don't want to ruin the good thing you and Lourdes have so I'm giving you an out." I replied

"No I don't want an out. I want to be in our child's life and I also want to be with you. These last couple of weeks have made me realize that as much as I would like to believe that I got over you I didn't. I love Lourdes, but not as much as I love you Michaela. I'm in love with you and I want to be a family with you and our child." He said

"Jared do you hear yourself right now? You're asking for something that can't happen." I said

"Why not?" He asked me

"Because you're married Jared that's why." I told him

"I don't want to hurt Lourdes but if leaving her means I get you and our baby then I'll do it. I would do anything for you and you need to understand that." Jared told me

"You have no idea how happy you're making me right now. I have felt so alone having to deal with this pregnancy by myself and now I don't need to because I have you. But what about Lourdes what are we going to tell her? A better question would be when are we going to tell her?" I asked him

"We'll tell her tomorrow, but for now would you mind if I stayed over?" He said

" I don't mind at all, actually I would really like that, but what are you going to tell Lourdes?" I said

"I'll just text her letting her know that something came up at work and I won't be able to make it home until tomorrow morning." He replied back

"Okay" I said. He turned off the car and we both got out. The minute he went around the car and reached me he reached for my hand to hold it. We both walked into the house and I was thankful that no one was downstairs it saved me from having to explain to everyone why Jared was sleeping over. We snuck into my room and changed into comfortable clothes before getting into bed. He immediately went to put his arms around me and I put my head on his chest. I missed the feeling of having his arms around me and it's only been a couple of weeks I can't imagine what he went through in the first few months after my disappearance. Then I remembered that I never told him my response to his proposal.

"It was a yes by the way" I said

"Yes to what?" he asked

"To your proposal. On the plane I made the decision that I was going to marry you. The minute the plane landed I opened our messages and tried to text you my response, but it didn't work for obvious reasons" I told him

"Really? I always thought that you were going to say no and you choosing to take a later flight kind of confirmed to me that you were going to say no." Jared said

"I took that later flight because I didn't think I deserved to be happy not after what happened with Evie. I was responsible for her life coming to an end and you know how much guilt I felt over that, even though the judge said I was innocent. I still feel guilty for that, but on the plane Ben helped me realize that I still deserved to be happy." I explained to him.

"All these years I always thought you were going to turn down my proposal and Mic you do deserve to be happy. What happened was an accident and I know you still feel guilty, but please don't let it get in the way of your happiness." He said and in that moment his phone went off. He looked at the screen and a message from Lourdes popped up on the screen. She just responded to his earlier message about staying late at work and in that moment the guilt came back, but this time not my guilt for what I did to Evie, but the guilt of what I'm doing to Lourdes.

"I feel really bad that we're the reason her world is going to come crashing down tomorrow. I never meant for any of this to happen. I literally made sure to keep as much distance from you as possible because I knew that as much I still loved you I couldn't do anything about it since you were married." I said out loud after he finished texting Lourdes.

"Mic you can't blame yourself. At the end of the day I'm the one who is going to break off a marriage and as much as it's going to hurt me to hurt her I would do it all again in heartbeat if it meant getting you back." He responded back

"She's my best friend so I'm going to feel guilty either way" I said

"We'll deal with this in the morning for now let's just get some rest" he said. He kissed my head and then we both settled in for bed.


	4. It’s over

I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better than I have since the plane came back. I could feel that at some point throughout the night we went from hugging each other to spooning each other. I could feel Jared's head nestled into the back of my neck. Of course that moment couldn't have stayed that way because the next thing I know I felt a rush of nausea. I jumped out of bed and went into my bathroom. Since finding out I was pregnant I have been really thankful that I have my own bathroom in my room. I went straight to the toilet and immediately got sick. Then I felt Jared grab my hair up and start rubbing soothing circles on my back. I definitely woke him the minute I jumped out of bed. Once I was done and we both brushed our teeth we headed back to the bed.

"Thanks for that it made it a little better" I said

"I'm here for whatever you need Mic." He said and then he kissed me and we just cuddled in bed for a little while longer before we had to get up and face the days events.

Once we got up we got changed and went downstairs to eat breakfast before we would head to Jared's house. It was just our luck that Ben was in kitchen making breakfast. When he looked up and saw us he didn't seem as surprised as I expected him to be.

"I'm going to guess that you finally decided to tell him" he asked me

"Yeah I did." I told him

"Well I guess congratulations are in order to you Jared." He told him

"Thank you." Jared responded back and then grace walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

"Good morning. Jared what are you doing here?" Grace asked him. He didn't respond immediately so it got silent and awkward

"Um Michaela would you like to tell her?" He asked. Of course he would make me break the silence, but I did it anyway.

" I haven't said anything about this because I wanted to tell Jared first, but it turns out that before the plane disappeared I became pregnant with our first child." I didn't say anything else after that because I wanted to let that information sink in for her.

"So you two are together now?" She asked both of us. I was about to respond when Jared beat me to it.

"Yeah we are." Jared explained to grace.

"Wow okay, well congratulations to the both of you and I'm really happy for you two." She told the both of us.

"Well I have to head off to work I'll see you guys later" she quickly kissed Ben and then left. We were lucky that the Olive had already left for school and Cal was with my dad at the cabin. As we were going to head out Jared's phone rang I immediately thought that it was Lourdes and since I couldn't hear the other end of the conversation I just assumed that it was her. When he was done with the phone call I asked him.

"Was that Lourdes?" I said

"No actually, it was Riojas. He wants me to come in and he also told me to tell you that he needs you too." He said

"So much for a day off huh. I guess we'll have to talk to Lourdes later today." I said

"Yeah we'll talk to her after we got off from work. Since I didn't expect to be called in to work I actually have to head over to the house to pick a fresh set of clothes so I'll meet you at the precinct." He gave me a quick kiss and left. I was kind of crossing my fingers that when he got home Lourdes wasn't there so he could avoid making himself look suspicious before we told her the news.

"Hey Mic I'm heading out too Saanvi has made a new discovery regarding what might have happened to us on the plane. Do you want me to drive you to work?" He asked

"Yeah actually that sounds great let me just go and get some of my things and then I'll be ready to go" I replied

I went upstairs grabbed my bag and anything I needed for work and headed back to the kitchen.

Jared's POV

As I pulled up to the house I didn't know if Lourdes was home or not. Something inside me was hoping that she wasn't because I honestly don't want to lie to her, but the news that Michaela and I have needs to be told by the both of us and not just me. She deserves to hear it from the both of us. I hate that once all of this is done and over with Lourdes is the one that's going to end up hurt. I never considered Lourdes to be my second choice. I do love her, but my love for her is not as strong as the love I have for Michaela. Five and a half years ago I made the decision that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Michaela and that's not something I want to easily give up now that I've been given a second chance at having a life with her. I was never unhappy with Lourdes, but now that Michaela is back everything's changed. I had been sitting in the car for a little bit so I got out and started walking towards the front door of the house. I walked in and I didn't hear a single thing.

"Lourdes?" I said out loud waiting for a response, but it never came so I called out her name again. "Lourdes are you home?" And yet again my question was met with silence. I went upstairs towards the bedroom and I grabbed new clothes and changed into them. Since Lourdes wasn't home I took advantage of the solidarity and grabbed a duffel bag and filled it with some of my clothes I tried not to grab a lot so it wouldn't get her suspicious. I know that after we tell her tonight she is not going to want to see us and she is going to some alone time to deal with the situation so it's best if I take some clothes now and just leave them in my car.

When I went back downstairs I saw that there was a note on the table in the hallway. "Hey I went out to buy some groceries I'll be back home soon" since I wasn't going to be here when she came back, like she expected me to, I wrote a note too. I let her know that I was called into work today and that I will see her later when I get home.

I walked out of the house and put my stuff in the back seat of the car. Once I was settled in I pulled out of the drive and went straight to work.

Michaela's POV

When I saw Jared walk into work I think he immediately knew what I wanted to know just by the look on my face.

"Hey" I said trying to act Normal , but he saw right through me

"Hey I'm assuming you want to know if I saw Lourdes at the house?" He said

"Maybe." I replied

He laughed and said "No she wasn't there. She left a note for me letting me know that she went to the store to buy food. So I left a note saying that I got pulled into work today and that I would see her later. I also took advantage of the empty house and grabbed a duffel bag and filled it with some of my clothes. I know that she is going to be really upset after we tell her and it's just best that we give her space and leave her alone."

"Yeah your right. I'm just hoping that I can still be friends with her by the end of this, but I know that's not a realistic possibility right now" I said

"Vasques, Stone I have a case for the both of you" riojas said and with that our conversation ended and we went into the captains office to hear what the case was about.

Grace's POV

I was low on stock on few things in the catering kitchen that I was going to need for a party we were catering for. As I was walking around in the grocery store I was looking for all of the ingredients that I needed. I looked up from my list and saw Lourdes not that far from me. I started debating on whether or not I should say hi to her. I know she must be feeling devastated because of everything going on. I start walking towards her at first she doesn't see me so I say her name.

"Lourdes" she finally turned around "Hey"

"Hi Grace it's nice to see you" she said

"It's nice to see you too. I just thought I would say hi and ask how you were doing you know after everything that's going on." I said

"What do you mean" she replied back. I guess she didn't get that I was talking about her split with Jared.

"Michaela and Jared told me about them expecting their first child this morning and they also said they were getting back together." I said. The look on her face said it all. I knew in that moment that Lourdes didn't know a single thing about what I was talking about.

"What are you talking about?" She said on the brink of tears.

"I'm so sorry I thought that you knew already. I thought that when I saw them this morning they had already told you the news." I said

"No they haven't told me anything" she said. I knew that she was trying so hard to hold back her tears. I decided that maybe it was best that I left before I said something else that would upset her even more.

"Listen Lourdes I'm so sorry that you had to find out this way. Had I known that you didn't know yet I wouldn't have upset you I'm so sorry. I think it's best if I left now." I said and with that I left the aisle headed towards self checkout paid for my things and left.

Michaela's POV

Jared and I were getting ready to leave work and go talk to Lourdes. It was safe to say that I was beyond nervous and scared about what was to come. When I saw that Jared was done he met me by my desk and we walked out of the precinct together. The drive to his house was silent. Once he parked in the driveway of the house. He looked at me and I knew that he knew what I was thinking. He was always able to read me like an open book.

He grabbed my face in his hands and looked straight into my eyes as he spoke "Mic we're going to be fine the worst that can happen is she doesn't want to see us for a little while, but the hurt will heal eventually." He tried to reassure me

"What if she doesn't want to divorce you and she fights it? What then?" I said

"You and I both know that she won't do that." He said

" I know, but I can't help and be scared that she will." I replied

"You need stop stressing about this it's not good for the baby." He said

"Okay I'll try and calm down." I said. We got out of the car and went up the front steps towards the door. We went inside and found Lourdes sitting in the living room. She looked as if she was waiting for us. Jared was the first one to say something.

"Hey can we talk to you?" He said and her response was not what we were expecting

"No let me stop you right there because I already know what you want to talk about. Why is it that I find out from Grace that you two are having a baby and that" she turns to Jared for the next part "you're leaving me?"

"You already know" I said

"Yeah I found out this afternoon while I was at the store. I happened to have bumped into Grace and I'm assuming that she didn't know that I didn't know anything yet. She just wanted to know how I was doing with the situation." Lourdes replied

"We didn't mean for you to find out this way. We were supposed to tell you this morning, but we got called into work and we never got the chance to. That's why we decided to come straight here after work" Jared said

"You told me that you were going to say no to his proposal? I thought that meant that you didn't want to be with him anymore or at least that's how it sounded." She asked me I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was really angry.

"I lied and I know that I shouldn't have lied to you, but I felt bad that you thought that you were a fraud and I didn't want you to feel that way. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. I didn't mean for any of this to happen you have to believe that." I said and when the silence continued I decided to say something else. "Lou I want you to know that we didn't have an affair together. I was pregnant before the plane disappeared." I added

"How is that even possible it's been five and half years" she said

"I don't know how it's possible. I don't know how any of this is possible none of us on that plane aged a day. I went to the doctors and they told me that I'm about 7 weeks pregnant which confirms that I already had the baby before I went on my trip to Jamaica." I said

"I thought that we were happy together. What happened?" Lourdes asked Jared

"We were happy, but I realized that as much as I tried to believe that I felt nothing for her for the last couple of weeks that she's been back that would be a total lie. I'm still in love with her as much as I was before she disappeared and that's not something I want to easily give up. I'm sorry I never wanted to hurt you, but now with Michaela being pregnant it's struck me that I need her and our baby in my life." He told her While he was talking about me he instinctively reached for my hand to hold it.

I could tell that Lourdes wanted to cry and I wanted to go over to her and give her a hug, but I know that a hug is not what she wanted right now, she just wanted to be left alone. I feel so bad that I'm the reason she feels this way and I hope that one day she will be able to forgive me.

"Well just send the divorce papers when you have them and I'll sign them. Now if you guys don't mind I just want to be left alone." She told the both of us.

"I'll come and pack up my things when your not here I don't want to make this harder for you." Jared told her

"Okay." That's all she said as she went up the stairs and then we heard the door slam.

"Let's go." I said I grabbed his hand and we got into his car.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be" I said

"No it wasn't and I told you that you didn't have to worry about her fighting the divorce." he said

"Let's go home I'm feeling a little tired" I said

" I like the sound of that." he said

"What?" I asked

"Home." he replied. He turned on the car and we started heading back home.


	5. The Calm Before The Storm

It has been a week since we told Lourdes everything and she hasn't talked to us which I understand why, but I miss having her around. Jared sent her the divorce papers a few days ago. My morning sickness has died down a little, but every once in a while I don't feel good and I end up sick. As I was looking at apartments on my computer I noticed that it was dark outside. I looked at the time and it was six p.m. I must have been on my computer for a long time because the last time I looked up there was light outside. Jared was going to be home soon from work I, unlike him, had the day off. I was still getting used to the idea of Jared and I being together. It wasn't that long ago that I thought that this would never happen. At that moment I heard the door open I looked up just in time to see Jared walk through the door.

"Hey" I said

"Hi" he responded he started walking to the bed, which was where I was sitting, but I got up and met him halfway.

When I reached him I gave him a quick kiss and then we sat down on the bed where he proceeded to holding me in his arms with his head on top of mine.

"How was work?" I asked him

"Boring and uneventful. I would have rather spent the day with you. How was your day?" He said

"I was looking at apartments today" I responded

"Really, did you find anything good?" He asked me

"No not yet, but I'll keep checking" I replied "oh and my next appointment is in a few days. Do you think you'll be able to make it?"

"Of course I will just tell me when so I can let the captain know that I'll be taking the day off." He said

"The appointment is on Thursday at one" I told him

"Have you eaten dinner yet?" He asked me

"No I haven't. What did you have in mind?" I replied

"Torrencci's" He said

"That sounds really good right now actually. Let me just get changed and we can go." I said. I got changed into a simple white flowy dress cinched at the waist by a black belt and I wore that with a pair of simple black heels. I didn't do much for makeup I just put on concealer, powder, mascara and clear lip gloss.

"Wow you look beautiful." He told me when I was done getting ready.

"Thanks" I said while I was blushing profusely. "Are you ready to go?"I asked him

"Yeah lets go" He said

We got in the car and drove to the restaurant. Once we got there I found out that Jared had already made a reservation ahead of time so they showed us to our table and handed us the menu. I already knew what I was ordering so I didn't even have to look at it. Once the waiter came back I ordered oyster linguini and Jared ordered the Chianti. One thing that has been on my mind lately is whether Jared has had any luck with Lourdes so I decided that it was a perfect time to ask him since we were just waiting for our food to arrive.

"So have you spoken to Lourdes yet?" I asked him

"No not really. I called her the other day letting her know that I dropped off the divorce papers, but that's all I was able to get out before she hung up the phone." He replied

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?" I asked him. I had convinced myself that I already knew the answer to that question, but I needed to hear someone else's opinion.

"Just give her some time. You're her best friend I know that she will forgive you eventually. I can't say the same for myself, but as long as you have her back in your life that's all that matters to me." He reassured me

"Do you really think so?" I asked him

"I know so. You guys have been the best of friends since you were little girls I don't believe that she would throw away your friendship over me."

"Yeah I guess so." I said

"Okay enough talk about Lourdes, how about we talk about the baby instead? What do you think it will be?" He asked me

"I think it will be a girl. I just have this feeling in my gut that it's going to be a girl. What about you?" I said

"I think the same thing actually. I'm hoping that it's a little girl that way she can be my little princess." He said

"I actually already thought of a name for her, if she's a girl of course." I told him

"What is it?" He asked me

"Evie. Evie Adriana Vasquez. What do you think? Do you like it?" I asked him

"I love it. We are definitely naming our child that if the baby turns out to be a girl." He said. At that moment the waiter came to our table with our food and set everything down. We ate while we continued to talk about our baby.

"When do you think we should start baby shopping?" I said

"Whenever you want to start is fine with me" he replied

"We are going to need a lot of things. We need a crib, a bassinet, clothes, bottles, pacifiers, a changing table and other baby furniture. We are going to need more things too. We should probably start buying all of this in a few months." I said

"Okay, that's fine with me." He said

"Thinking about all of this makes me think about our relationship. What do you think about marriage?" I asked "I am ready to get married, but would you be ready?"

"Mic, you are the first person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I'd marry you in a heartbeat." He replied

"I feel the same way, but I think it would be best to wait a little bit before we get engaged. We're are just starting to get used to being together again I just don't want to rush things."

"I feel like we are the same person in two different bodies because I feel the same exact way" he said. He reached across the table to hold my hand and in that moment we just looked at each other. The waiter then came back and asked if we wanted any dessert. I immediately knew that this dinner date at Torrencci's was going to end the same way as they all did.

"No thank you, can we have the check please?" I told the waiter.

"Of course" he said as he walked away to go and get the check.

We paid for our food and went to the car to go home. I noticed that Jared drove a little over the speed limit to get home faster signaling that he was a little anxious to get there. Once we parked in the driveway, he went around the car quickly opened my door and took my hand in his. He rushed me all the way to our room and when we got there I closed the door once we were inside.


	6. The Calling

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the scenes that were taken from the show

It's been a little while since I had a calling and I've been enjoying the peace that comes with not getting one. I don't need that stress in my life right now. As I was walking into the precinct late I tried to sneak passed the captain's office which worked, but I didn't walk in unseen.

"Stone I see you coming in here late" Jared said as he saw me walk in

"Busted" I said and then I heard it. The words "don't lose him" were said in my head. I knew that not having a calling in a little while meant that soon enough I would get one I just didn't think it would be this soon. Jared looked at me with worry on his face he must have noticed I stopped mid walk to my desk and became really tense. I already told him about the callings, but I don't know if I should tell him about this one. I've never had a calling that may be towards Jared and it honestly scares me.

"There you are I'm on with ESU they were asking for you they got a jumper on top of a building at Friedman college" riojas said to me when he came out of his office.

"They need a detective?" I asked

"He was on flight 828. I've hit a wall, so yes he thinks that he might talk to you." He said before he walked away. I looked at Jared and he followed me out of the precinct.

When we came back to the precinct I was so distraught. I thought that if I could have broken through to Harvey then maybe I could have saved his life. I thought that the moment he let me get near him I could talk him out of jumping. I sat at my desk for a little while just lost in my thoughts. I felt like I failed him a little. I decided that I would do some paperwork as a way to distract myself from thinking about Harvey. Unfortunately that didn't work. I couldn't get out of my head something he said. He kept saying that he was the cause for people dying. We were finally given permission to check out Harvey's apartment and what we found was pretty disturbing. The walls had red paint smeared all over them to write the words I am the angel of death. We got a lead on how to proceed with our investigation and I'm hoping that we'll be able to find out more information.

"Are you ready to go?" Jared asked

"Yeah I'm ready" I said. We headed to the car and went to the bar to talk to the bartender. I'm hoping that she will be aoble to give us enough information for us to come to a conclusion over what happened with Harvey.

Later that Night…..

After the events that happened tonight I'm honestly scared for Jared's life. If I had known that telling him about the callings was going to cause his death I wouldn't have told him anything. I don't want to leave him, but I think that it's my only option right now. If leaving him means that I keep him safe then i'll do what it takes. I'm lying in bed right now just thinking of a way to tell him that us being together won't work out, but I can't think of anything because I know that he won't believe anything i'll tell him. He knows that I love him if I say anything that contradicts that he will know it's a lie and I can't tell him about the callings or else something bad may happen to him. I finally come up with something and I go to bed praying that when I tell him tomorrow morning it works.

I wake up the next morning anxious as ever. I hear shuffling in the bathroom and I wait for him to finish up and come out. After a few minutes I hear the sink turn off and the door open. My only thought was it's now or never.

"Hey can I talk to you?" I asked him

"Yeah what's up" he said

"I can't do this anymore. I've been able to hide my guilt from you for so long, but i can't keep this up. We practically destroyed Lourdes' life and it's all my fault. You guys were happy together before I came back and I feel guilty that I ruined that. I ruined her marriage to you and she's my best friend. I'm going to be honest I was hurt when I found out that you married my best friend, so I can't imagine what she is going through. I love you so much, but I need time for myself to deal with what I did. I can't be with you Jared not right now." I said sometime in the middle of speech I started crying. I hated that I was going to hurt him with what I said, but I knew that it needed to be done.

"Mic this is not your fault you have to realize this. You don't need to feel guilty about anything. I was the one who decided to end my marriage. I chose my relationship with you, you didn't force me to be in this relationship. Please I lost you for five and half years and i'm not going to lose you again. Please Michaela I love you please don't do this." he told me

In that moment I noticed that there were tears in his eyes. I almost admitted to him then and there that I didn't want to lose him either, but I knew that this was the only way to keep him safe. He needed to be away from me so that nothing bad would happen. I tried hard to keep my emotions in and then continued talking.

"I'm so sorry, but I need to do this." I said I looked at the time and I knew that he needed to get to work I on the other hand didn't have work today. I decided that when he left I would pack up a few necessities and leave because I knew that he wouldnt leave me that easily which means i have to leave before he gets home.

"Listen i need to get to work, but please we need to talk about this later" He said

"Okay we will meet here when you're out of work" I lied. He nodded his head and the went out the door.

I went into my closet to look for a bag to put some clothes, shoes and my toiletries. Once I packed up all my things I grabbed my computer to find a hotel that I could stay at for the next few days until I figure out what to do. After searching around the internet I finally found a place that was affordable and I made a reservation. I grabbed my things and headed downstairs. I heard a noise in the kitchen it sounded like the keys of a keyboard I walked in and saw Ben sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hey" I said

"Hey what's up?" he said

"So I got a calling yesterday and I think it has to do with Jared" I told him

"what was it?" he asked

"It said don't lose him and I also found out yesterday that anyone who is told about the callings has turned up dead. Ben i'm scared I don't want anything to happen to him. Which is why I have made the decision that i'm going to stay away from him. I'm going to stay at the hilton hotel that is nearby. Please don't tell Jared where I am I need him to not find me. I need to figure out what i'm going to do and I can't do it while i'm worried about his life when he is with me." I explained

"I don't think that running away from him is the best idea, but I promise that I won't tell him anything." he said

"Thank you. I'll see you in a few days." I said. I grabbed my bag and left the house. While I was driving to the hotel I decided that I would call Riojas to let him know that I'll be out for the next few days. I made sure not to call him while I was still at the house because there was a possibility that he would tell Jared and then Jared would come home. I picked up the phone and dialed the captain's number after a few rings he picked up.

"Hello this is Riojas speaking." he said

"Hey its Michaela I just wanted to let you know that i'm going to need the next few days off. I haven't been feeling good lately and I think I need to take some rest to make sure nothing happens to the baby." I explained to him

"You know I'm a little tight with staff right now." he said

"I know and I really wouldn't be asking for this favor if I didn't think it was important." I said hoping that it would convince him into giving me the days off.

"Okay just make sure that you come in soon and feel better." he said

"Okay I will thank you." I said and with that I hung up the phone and now it would only be a matter of time before Jared started calling me. Not even a few minutes later my phone starts to ring and I look at the screen and I see Jared's name. I send him to voicemail, but I know that he will only call again. The phone starts to ring again and I send him to voicemail again. The third time he calls I shut off my phone so that the calls will stop coming through. Once I did that I just drove all the way to the hotel in silence.

Jared's POV

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what happened this morning with Michaela. I just want her to understand that none of this is her fault. I don't want to lose her again and i'm going to make sure that I don't. I lost her for five years there is no way i'm letting her slip away now not after all that we have been through to get to this point. I'm just hoping that I'll be able to convince her to stay with me.

"Hey is Michaela okay?" I looked up and saw Riojas heading towards my desk.

"Yeah she is fine why?" I asked now I was getting worried.

"Well she just called me asking for a few days off she said that she wasn't feeling good I just assumed that you knew already." he said

"No I wasn't told about any of this. Do you mind if I just go and check on her to make sure everything is okay?" I asked

"Yeah go ahead" he said

"Thanks" I responded. As I was walking outside I grabbed my phone and started calling her. She denied my first two calls and then turned off her phone when I called the third time. I drove home quickly and ran to our room. I saw that some of the drawers were open and there were things missing and when I looked into the bathroom her toothbrush and some of her toiletries were missing. She was gone.

A/N: Don't lose hope on Jared and Michaela in the next few chapters we'll see how this affects their relationship.


	7. Heartbroken

Michaela's POV

It was already mid-day and I hadn't gotten anything done yet. I wanted to go and visit Lourdes, but I didn't know if it was the best idea. I finally decided that even though Lourdes probably doesn't want to see me I needed to find out how she was doing and the only way to do that is by visiting her. So I got up and started walking around the room packing a few things into a bag. I needed more clothes I hadn't made a decision on what I'm going to do so I asked for another week off. Riojas was reluctant in giving it to me, but I told him that I was put on bed rest. I haven't talked to or seen Jared since I left the house three days ago I have, on the other hand, talked to my brother and he told me that Jared doesn't believe him when he says that he doesn't know where I am. I know Jared's work schedule for this week so I know that if I go to the house right now and pick up some more things he won't notice I was ever there.

Once I got to the house my suspicions were correct no one was home. I went inside and went straight to my room I made sure to bring the bag that I took when I left. I filled it up with more clothes and necessities. I was so concentrated on packing my things that I never noticed the front door open and close downstairs. I also didn't hear my bedroom door open.

"Michaela" I turned around and came face to face with Jared. I was hoping that I wouldn't have run into him, but it looks like the world wasn't in my favor today.

"What are you doing here I thought that you were at work?" I asked shocked that he was standing in front of me right now.

"Yeah I was, but I forgot my phone here so I decided to come and pick it up, but a better question right now is where have you been for the past few days?" He asked slightly angered.

"I had to get away okay. I need to go." I said trying to get away as quickly as possible. I never got to the door since Jared grabbed my hand and pulled me back before I could leave.

"No you're going to explain to me what is going on? This isn't you Michaela. I have known you for almost half your life and your not the kind of person to runaway when a situation gets hard. Tell me what's wrong?" He asked

"I don't love you anymore Jared and I already told you I just want to be left alone" I said

"I don't believe that" he said

"Well believe it or not it's true. I don't love you anymore so just get that through your head." It hurt me to say it and it hurt even more when I saw the hurt on his face, but I needed to get away from him and this was the only way I knew how. So I ran out of the room and left the house; I quickly got into my car and drove straight to Lourdes' house. I tried to compose myself the entire car ride and I was trying to hold back the sobs that I knew were coming. Once I was parked in front of the house I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves. I don't know what to expect going in there, but I just hope that I'm able to find out how she's doing. I got out of my car and walked up the steps to the door and I knocked; I waited for her to open it. I saw the doorknob turn and prepared myself for the worst.

"Hey" I said once she opened the door.

"Hi" she replied

"I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing." I said hoping that she wouldn't shut the door in my face.

"I'm doing okay. Do you want to come in?" She said her response stunned me I didn't expect for her to invite me into the house. After a few seconds I answered her question.

"Yes I would love that" I responded. She stepped to the side so that I could go in. Once I was inside the house I noticed all the things she had changed since I was in here last time. The picture of her wedding with Jared was gone from the small table in the front and there were other pictures of them missing. I saw that she sat on one of the couches in the living room so I sat on the opposite one facing her.

We sat in silence for a little while and that's when I decided to say something.

"I'm so sorry Lourdes. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I wanted for you to have a wonderful life with Jared I just didn't expect this pregnancy. I'm sorry that I ruined your life and I don't think that I'll ever be able to forgive myself for it." I explained. I waited for her to answer, but she just sat there not saying anything.

"I know you Mic and I know that you wouldn't have done this on purpose. It doesn't change the fact that it happened. At first I was really angry and I didn't know what to do. Your my best friend I lost you for five years and I didn't want to lose your friendship again, but you have to understand that this is a difficult situation I'm in. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive you just yet, but I know that I will be able to some day." She said

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Ever since we told you I've been afraid that I lost you forever and that honestly scared me, but that gives me hope that we'll be friends again someday." I said

"Ever since you came back I knew something changed between me and Jared. I don't know why I was surprised that what happened happened. I saw it coming." She stopped and then she continued "he was spending more time at work he was talking about you more. I had a suspicion that his feelings for you were resurfacing, but I tried to ignore it hoping that it was my imagination." She said

"I always had this feeling deep down that he still loved you. Even when we were dating and throughout our marriage, but I never said anything to him about it. I felt like I was his second choice for a long time until you told me that you were going to say no to his proposal. I understand now why you lied and I just want to say thank you. You made me feel a lot better about my place in Jared's heart." She said

"I just wanted to bring you some peace of mind and I'm glad that I did." I said

"How's the baby?" She asked, changing the subject. It shocked me that she wanted to know about the baby but it made me feel good that she cared.

"The baby is great. We haven't found out the gender yet, but that will be soon hopefully." I said

"Have you thought of names yet?" She asked

"Yeah actually. I came up with a name that we agreed on if the baby is a girl." I responded

"What is it? If you don't mind telling me?" She said

"Of course I don't mind you're my best friend. If it's a girl her name is going to be Evie Adriana." I told her

"Wow it's beautiful. I know that Evie would have loved that you named your child after her." She said.

"Thank you" I said. We spent the rest of the afternoon just talking like old friends. We forgot about everything that happened and just pretended that everything was okay. We talked more about the baby and she told me stories about things that happened while I was gone and we reminisced about the past. We laughed, we cried and we smiled. I'm happy that I made the decision to come because I would've regretted it if I didn't. I noticed that it was getting late and that it was time for me to head back to the hotel.

"Thank you for this afternoon. I really enjoyed just talking with you again and I'm really sorry again for everything I did that hurt you. I hope that you can forgive me soon. I think it's time I start heading home carrying this little one gets me really tired really fast." I said

"I enjoyed this afternoon too. Today made me realize that I need you in my life so I forgive you Michaela. I hope that you make Jared happy you guys deserve it, truly." She said

"Thank you" I said I reached over and gave her a big hug that she gave back. After a little while I stepped back and headed for the door. Before I left I turned to her and said "we should have lunch sometime. Maybe later this week I have the next week off so whenever you're free give me a call"

"Okay I will" she said. I left happier than I have been all week and I am looking forward to our lunch together. We made a big step towards becoming the best friends we used to be before I went missing and I couldn't have been more happier for that.


	8. Reunited

I woke up the next morning I realized that I needed to talk to Ben. Maybe he can help me come to a decision on what I should do. No one else understands what I'm going through more than he does. I got up from bed and went to the bathroom I went through my usual morning routine and then I went back to bed. These past couple of days I have felt so alone. I got so used to waking up with Jared right beside me that waking up without him makes me feel empty inside. I text Ben letting him know that I want to talk to him and he agrees. Even though I wanted to talk to him in the early afternoon he won't be able to come over until after 3 so I have to figure out something to do until then or I just might die of boredom. My stomach started growling so I thought it was the perfect time to go and get breakfast especially because I'm eating for two now so I'm really hungry.

I decided to go to the nearest diner. As I was walking there I saw Grace across the street. I crossed the street and made my way to her.

"Hey Grace" I said

"Oh my god Michaela where have you been? Are you okay? What happened?" She asked so many questions at once that I didn't even know where to start.

"Do you have to be anywhere by any chance?" I asked

"No I was just doing some shopping" she gestured to her bags

"Would you like to join me for breakfast I can explain everything to you and I could really use the company right now?" I asked

"Yeah sure I'll join you" she said we walked in silence to the diner. Once we were seated inside and we ordered our food I started explaining my reasons for leaving.

"So the reason I left was because I can't be with Jared anymore and I knew he wasn't going to leave easily so I left" I said

"Why I thought you guys were happy? I haven't seen you so happy in a while and I know it's him who made you happy" she asked

"I was happy that was never the problem and leaving was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I was feeling really guilty over ruining Lourdes' life. I feel like I only destroy the lives of others. Its my fault that Evie isn't here anymore and it's my fault that Lourdes had to give up her marriage. It just didn't feel right staying in a relationship with Jared knowing what I did cost someone their happiness." I explained

"I see where you're coming from and im not going to pretend to understand how you're feeling, but you deserve to be happy Mic and you shouldn't let your guilt stop you from achieving it. You were given a second chance at life, so use it." She said

"Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me to have you in my life." The next question I asked even surprised me because I wasn't planning on asking it "How's Jared doing?" I asked

"He's hanging in there. He hasn't been the same since you left. At first he just spent his days trying to find you he would always ask Ben if he knew where you were or if he heard from you, but a few days ago he changed. He just seemed so heartbroken I wasn't sure if I should ask what happened, but I ultimately decided not to say anything." She explained

"I told him that I didn't love him Grace and that statement couldn't be further from the truth" i said

"Then why did you say it?" She asked

"I wanted him to stop looking for me. I didn't want to be with him I needed space and he wasn't giving it to me." I said "and I really regret it, but it was the only thing I could think of at that moment"

"Do you still love him?" She asked and I nodded my head "do you still want to be with him?" She asked

"Of course I do. Ever since I got back that's all I wanted, but I think it's too late" I said

"Then talk to him and tell him that. It's not too late you can still fix this and be a family" she said. She had no idea how much I needed someone to tell me that. It helped me come to a decision, but I knew I still needed to talk to Ben. We spent the rest of breakfast talking about the kids and also about my visit to Lourdes' house. She was happy to hear that we are still best friends and that she forgave me for what I did.

Later that day….

I heard a knock at the door. I looked at the time and I knew it was Ben. I opened the door and he was waiting patiently on the other side for me.

"Hey" he said walking into my room and giving me a hug

"Hey" I said in return

"How are you?" He asked

"Im good" I said even though that was a lie

"Are you really?" He asked I forgot that he knew me so well

"No, but I'm getting there" I said he gave me a look that said are you lying so I said "I promise"

"Okay. What did you need to talk about?" He asked me

"I need advice on my relationship with Jared" I said

"Okay" is all he said so I proceeded

"I want to be with him so much, but the calling I got really scared me and after seeing what happened with all those people Harvey told I don't know if I can risk it" I explained

"Mic we can't assume that everyone who finds out about the callings will die. Like you told me Harvey told a lot of people are we really going to believe that all of them are going to die" he said

"I know that it sounds really crazy, but we don't know what the callings are capable of we barely know what they are" I said

"Tell him the truth. He already knows about the callings just tell him the truth and work from there. As much as you would like to do this alone you can't. He is a grown man who can make decisions for himself you can't force him to take a path he doesn't want to take. If you tell him about the calling you got and if he decides that he still wants to be with you, then be together. Don't let these callings run how you live your life" he said

Grace and him are so alike when it comes to giving advice. Both of them gave me advice that helped me make a decision just a few days ago I didn't think I could make.

"Thank you" I said giving him a hug.

"Your welcome you know you can come to me for anything." He said

"I know. I've felt so alone the past couple of days that it's nice having a person to talk to for my problems. I feel like you're the only person who truly understands what I'm going through. I really needed this." I told him. He stayed for a little while longer and we just watched movies and ate junk food. After he left I started getting ready for bed. It was still a little early, but I was really tired. As I was washing my hands in the bathroom I heard a knock at my door I found it kind of weird, but I let it go. Ben must have forgotten something here. I go to the door and I open it. On the other side of the door was not who I was expecting to find.

"Hi" Jared said to me.

Jared's POV

I got back to the house early and I saw that Ben was rushing out of the house and headed to his car. I have spent almost an entire week asking him where Michaela was and he keeps telling me he doesn't know. I know he's lying Michaela wouldn't leave without telling one person where she went and the only person she would trust is Ben. I respect him for keeping her secret, but I'm still annoyed he won't tell me anything. I decide to follow him and see if he leads me to her. I followed him until he got to a hotel not that far from the house. So this is where she's been staying this entire time. He goes inside and I wait outside in the parking lot. After a while of waiting I decided that I would come back later after Ben gets back. I drive back to the house. I hop in the shower and get changed by the time I finished all that I went downstairs to check if he was back to my disappointment he wasn't. I made myself something to eat and kept waiting. I felt weird being in this house without Michaela. The only reason I was staying here in the first place was because of her.

I still can't believe that Michaela would lie to me as a way to get away from me. I think sometimes she forgets that I know her inside and out and that I know when she is lying even if she is trying really hard at making it sound truthful. When she told me she didn't love me, I'm not going to lie, it hurt but I knew deep down that she wasn't telling the truth or at least I really hope she wasn't. I heard the door open and I saw Ben walk in. He walked right passed the kitchen so I'm assuming he didn't see me which worked out great to be honest, that way I can sneak out without anyone asking me where I'm going. I grabbed my keys and went to my car I drove to the hotel and went inside. It was then that it hit me I didn't know what floor she was on or what room she was staying in. I decide to go to the information desk and hope that I can lie my way in.

"Hi I was wondering if you could help me out with something?" I asked the lady behind the desk

"Yes of course what can I help you with?" She replied

"My brother in law told me my wife was staying at this hotel. I was trying to get in contact with her right now, but it seems her phone must be dead would you mind telling me what room she is in?" I asked hoping she would tell me.

"I'm sorry sir I'm not at liberty to give you her room number without calling her and asking." She said

"Please I've been away on a work trip. I'm an NYPD detective and I was pulled away for a case I haven't seen her yet and since she didn't answer her phone I was kind of hoping to surprise her. Her name is Michaela Stone." I said. I don't think I've ever played the I'm a detective card until now and I really hope it works.

"Okay, but we'll keep this between me and you" she said

"Thank you so much I really appreciate this" I said. She wrote down the floor and room number I thanked her again and headed for the elevators. Once I got to the 3rd floor I started searching for room 325. Once I found it I knocked on the door and patiently waited for her to open the door.

"Hi" I said once she opened the door

Michaela's POV

"How did you find me?" I asked him. Grace told me that Ben hadn't told him anything so how is that he is standing in front of me in my hotel room.

"I followed Ben here. Since he kept lying about knowing where you were I decided to follow him when I saw him leave the house in a rush. Can we please talk?" He asked

"Yeah" I gestured for him to sit on the small couch that was facing the bed. I decided to sit on the bed instead of the couch.

"I feel like you forget that I know when your lying through your teeth. When you told me you didn't love me anymore I knew you were lying. Your words still hurt, but I knew they weren't true. Or at least tell me they weren't true?" He asked

"You're right I was lying. I love you so much and the thought of something happening to you makes me terrified" I said

"Tell me what's going on?" He said

"The day Harvey jumped from that building I got a calling." I started off

"What did it say?" He asked

"It said don't lose him. Jared this calling came to me after you joked with me about coming in late. Once Riojas told me about Harvey I immediately assumed it was about him. When he jumped I thought I failed the calling, but I heard it again later that night when we were called in for the bartender that was found dead. Harvey called himself the angel of death. People that he told about the calling were found dead and I keep getting this calling that says don't lose him that could possibly be about you and to top it off I told you about the callings." I explained

"Wow that's a lot to take in" he said

"Why do you think I've been trying to stay away from you. I don't want to put your life on the line. If keeping you safe means that I can't be with you then so be it. Your life matters way too much to me." I said

"Mic I don't believe that I'm going to die just because you told me about the callings. You can't let these callings get to your head and mess with your life and if I do die then at least I know I died happy. Please Michaela don't throw away what we have because of fear. We can't let fear ruin our lives." He said

"I love you so much you have no idea. I don't know what I did to deserve you" I said he got up from the chair and came to sit with me on the bed.

"So does this mean you'll take me back and come home?" He asked

"Yes to both, but we really need to find an apartment because we need our own space" I said and he laughed. I missed hearing his laugh. He pulled me into a hug and we cuddled on the bed. At one point we both fell fast asleep in eachothers arms. For the first time in almost a week I felt whole again.


	9. Close Call

Ben and Grace were fighting at the house this morning. I decided to take the kids out for lunch just in case they started fighting again. Ben was only able to tell me that he had told Grace about the callings and that she was having a hard time believing anything he said which then resulted in them getting into a heated argument. I didn't want the kids hearing any of that so I took them out to lunch. We are currently sitting at a table in Chipotle silently eating our food. It hit me then that I hadn't told the kids about my pregnancy yet and since no one was saying anything I took it as a perfect time to tell them.

"So I have something to tell you guys?" I said

"What is it?" Olive said

"I'm pregnant" I told them

"Really?" Cal said

"Yeah you guys are going to have a little cousin running around soon." I said

"Congratulations aunt Michaela. Just one question how far along are you?" Olive asked

"Im 9 weeks pregnant" I said

"How is that possible?" she asked

"I have no idea, but all I know is that I was pregnant before the plane disappeared and somehow the baby was able to survive" I said

"Since you were pregnant before the plane disappeared that means that Jared is the father of your baby" she said I wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, but I answered her anyways.

"Yeah he is" I said

"Is that why you guys got back together?" she asked

"It wasn't the only reason. I will say that if I wasn't pregnant I don't know if we would have gotten back together. We realized that we still loved each other very much and that we wanted to be a family together me, him and our child." I said

"Im happy for you too. You'll make a beautiful family" she said

"Thank you Olive I'm glad you guys are excited for your new baby cousin" I said. After that we finished eating our food and decided to head back home. I texted Ben to make sure that I wouldn't be bringing the kids back to the house while they were mid-fight. When he texted me back that it was okay to bring them back home we cleaned up our table and went to the car. The car ride home was fun we played music and sang along to the songs on the radio and we danced in our seats. Before the disappearance I didn't hang out much with my niece and nephew, just the three of us, but when we did we always managed to have so much fun and i'll always cherish those moments. Once we got home the kids ran inside and settled in front of the tv to watch a movie. I sat down on the couch and watched with them, but I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up they told me I had missed the first half of the movie. One pregnancy thing I'm not fond of is the constant cravings. I've been craving fig newtons with milk for almost a week and I've gone through 2 boxes already. I grabbed another box from the pantry and the milk from the fridge. I sat on a stool and ate my snack in peaceful silence. I decided to take a walk to where my mom is buried. It was a little far, but I wanted some fresh air. Once I got there I put the flowers, that I bought on the way, on her tombstone.

I still can't believe that she isn't here anymore. I wish she were so that I could tell her that she was right all along. She would have been ecstatic to find out that she was going to be a grandmother again, especially because it's me who is having a baby this time and with Jared. I wish I could tell her everything; she would definitely have had great advice for me. I would do anything to hear her say I told you so to me, anything. I'm happy that I still have my dad, but of course it's not the same. I sat by her tombstone and just talked as if she were actually there. I told her all about her new grandchild and how excited I am. I also told her about Jared and how we got back together. By the time I was finished I felt a little better than I did when I first got here. This was my first time visiting her since we got back; everything has been so hectic that Ben and I haven't had the chance to come and visit. I stayed for another few minutes and then I got up and started walking back home. I walked into the house and went straight to my room. I was really tired from today's events and could really use some sleep. I opened the door and saw Jared taking off his jacket. I must have missed his car outside because I didn't notice he was home until right now.

"Hey how was your day?" I asked him

"Good we had a few new cases, but nothing major" he said. He walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. When he pulled away he looked at me and asked "how was your day?"

"I hung out with the kids we went out to eat lunch and I also went to visit my mom today." I said

"You did? Are you okay?" he asked

"I am now. At first it hurt seeing her tombstone there, but by the time I was ready to leave I felt a lot better. It's hard not having her around, especially right now when I need her the most. She is supposed to give me parenting advice so that I don't mess up and she's supposed to be here with me through every moment of this pregnancy. It just makes me mad and upset that she isn't here anymore." I explained

"She is here Mic. She will always be right here" he points at my heart "and she is watching over you and our baby. So you're not alone" he said. He always knows when to say the right thing and it's one of the reasons why I love him so much. He has always managed to calm me down or bring me peace of mind when I don't have any.

"Ben told Grace about the callings today." I told him

"How did that go?" he asked

"Not good. Him and Grace got into an argument over it. He hasn't been able to tell me much yet, but by the looks of it she is having a hard time believing anything that comes out of his mouth. I never asked how come you believed me so easily when I told you?" I said

"I knew that you wouldn't create such a crazy story with the intentions of lying to me. At first I wasn't sure what to believe, but I never doubted that you wouldn't tell me the truth." he said

"Have I ever told you how much I love you" I said

"Yes you have, but I wouldn't mind hearing it again." he said smiling

"I love you so much. Thank you for always believing in me and being there for me I don't know what I would do without you" I said

"I'll always be here for you no matter what." he said and he leaned his head down until our noses were touching and I just closed my eyes and relished the moment. I felt him pull away and actually felt a little sad that he did.

"What do you think is going to happen between Ben and Grace?" he asked

"I have no idea. Im hoping that she will try and be more understanding about the situation, but for that she needs to believe his story." I said

"Only time will tell" he said

"Yeah" I still haven't told him that I went to visit Lourdes. I know that it's not something that will annoy him. He would love to hear that we're best friends again, but I don't know if it's still too soon to mention her. I mean they're not even officially divorced yet since the papers can take a few weeks to a few months to process.

"I went to visit Lourdes the other day" I said nervously waiting for his response

"You did?" he said

"Yeah I wanted to check up on her and make sure she was okay" I said

"How was she?" He asked

"She was as good as can be expected considering the circumstances. I didn't think she would let me inside the house. I kind of just thought she would slam the door in my face, but she didn't." I said

"How much has she changed?" he asked even though he didn't say what he was referring to I knew.

"She took down the pictures of the both of you. The picture of your wedding day isn't in its place anymore." I told him

"I will say it's weird not living in that house anymore, but I don't miss it. I love coming home to you everyday and that's not something I would ever want to change." he said

"Im happy to hear that." I said smiling

"Are you guys planning on meeting up again?" he asked

"Yeah actually. I told her to call me sometime this week since I took off. I don't know if she will, but I'm hoping she does. She forgave me for everything and we're best friends again, but I don't know if she is ready to hang out with me again anytime soon. She actually told me something that made me happy though" I said

"What did she say?" he asked

"She told me that she is happy for us and that we deserve to be happy" I told him

"Really?" he said

"Yeah" I said

"Wow I thought it would take her a long time for her to accept us and be okay with us being together." he told me

"I thought the same, but I guess not" I said

One week later….

Lourdes did call me, but we never went out to lunch. She was going to be pretty busy that week so she decided to reschedule. A part of me was surprised that she decided to reschedule. If she cancelled I kind of just expected her to cancel and leave it at that, but I'm happy that that wasn't the case. I'm currently sitting in a car on my way to the warehouse in redhook. We suspect that the missing passengers are being held there, but we're not one hundred percent sure. I tried to leave Jared out of this but that simply wasn't an option for him. I looked over to my side where he was currently sitting and he grabbed my hand as a way to reassure me that everything was going to be okay. We would be at the warehouse soon and with every passing moment I became more nervous. We don't know what to expect walking into that building and we don't even know if they're even there. All the evidence points to that warehouse, but if the people behind the disappearances of the passengers heard that we were coming they may be long gone if that's where they were. I knew that going on this mission wasn't the safest thing, especially now that I'm pregnant, but there was no way I was going to sit out on a mission this important. I just have to make sure that nothing happens to me that could possibly harm the baby. Once we got there we all silently filed out of the car and got into our positions.

Everything after that point passed like a blur. One minute we are trying to find the passengers and the next I'm in the hospital by Jared's bedside begging whatever controls the callings to save him. We really didn't know what we were walking into; we were unprepared. I sat out when they decided to go into the tunnel they found, thanks to Cal. Since he didn't want to leave and he kept insisting that Ben go with everyone else I decided to stay with him in the car. I guess it was a good thing that I didn't go inside because everything went horribly wrong in there. What I didn't expect was the whole place to blow up in my face while I was on my way to find Jared in the tunnel. I got checked out by a doctor and thank god that the baby is perfectly okay even though I got thrown high up in the air and crashed on the ground. My adrenaline after I got up was on high. I knew that I needed to find and save Jared. The calling told me to not lose him and that's exactly what I'm trying to do right now, not lose him. I don't know if anyone is listening, but I'm really hoping there is. The last time I cried this hard I had just found out that my mother had passed away. I tried to calm myself down, but it wasn't really working. I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that he may not make it through the night. I got a call from Ben at one point he told me everything that happened once he got home and it's safe to say that I'm not going to be staying at the house while Ben is sleeping somewhere else. I heard a noise come from the bed. I was sitting in the chair off to the side of the bed and the minute I heard a noise I got up to see if Jared was awake and he was.

"Thank god you're awake" I said the minute I saw him open his eyes.

"What happened?" he said

"The entire place blew up and you were inside. I was terrified that you wouldn't make it since no one else did." I explained

"What do you mean no one else made it?" he asked

"I was told that Vance died in that explosion and so did everyone else that you were with" I said

"Are you serious?" he said

"Yeah. Do you see why I'm so scared that you knowing about the callings could be dangerous. You could have died Jared. I don't know what I would have done if you had" I said

"I'm okay I'm right here alive and breathing. You don't have to worry about me" He said

"Your alive and that's all that matters to me right now" I said

"Are you okay?" he said looking at the cuts on my face

"Yeah I'm fine I was on my way to look for you in the tunnel when the whole thing blew up in my face. I was thrown in the air, but I was checked out by a doctor the minute I arrived here and everything is okay. The baby is okay." I told him

"Good. What happened to the passengers?" he said

"Fiona took them somewhere safe" I noticed that he still seemed a little tired so I told him to rest more and that we would talk more tomorrow. I decided that I would pay Ben a visit now that I know Jared will be fine. When I came back I came across someone I didn't think I would see here.

"Hey Lourdes" I said

"I heard about what happened. Are you guys okay?" she asked me

"Yeah we're all okay thankfully" I said

"Is the baby okay?" she asked it made me happy that she was concerned about my child.

"Yeah I was checked out by a doctor and I was told that the baby is perfectly fine in there." I said looking down at my stomach.

"What happened?" she asked I knew that I couldn't say much so I kept it nice and simple.

"There was a case about missing people and we went in to check it out, but we didn't know what we were walking into." I explained to her

"Were there any casualties?" she asked

"Yeah there were and Jared would have been one of them if he weren't the lucky one" i said

"What do you mean?" she asked

"Well I found him surrounded by dead bodies. There was an explosion and he was in the midst of it. Out of everyone that we found near him he was the only one who survived" I explained

"Wow I guess he was the lucky one" she said

"Yeah" I said

"Well I should probably get going. I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow" she said

"Okay goodnight Lourdes thank you for stopping by" I said giving her a quick hug

"Your welcome, goodnight." she replied

I went back to Jared's room after our conversation. He was still asleep so I tried to get comfortable in the chair beside his bed. I thought about my calling im happy that I didn't fail it. I was terrified that I was going to lose him and that the warning the calling gave me wouldn't have been enough to do it, but it was. With that thought in mind I drifted off to sleep with some peace of mind for the first time that night.


	10. And the baby is a

7 weeks later….

Everything had calmed down since the day the passengers were found which I found to be a big relief. Being stressed and pregnant is never a good thing and I'm glad I haven't been put in any stressful situations since then. We also are currently renting an apartment with Ben since none of us had anywhere to go. Jared and I were talking about buying a house once the baby is born. We don't want Ben to live in an apartment with a screaming baby day and night so we thought it was best to start looking for our own place where we can raise our child. Jared and I are in the car heading to our next doctor's appointment. We are excited for this one because I have reached the 16 week mark which means the doctors can finally tell the gender of the baby. Since we're having a gender reveal party I'm asking them not to tell us and to put the gender on a piece of paper so that I can give it to Ben.

"Are you excited?" Jared asked

"Yeah I am. I wish I could find out the gender today, but it's going to be even more special finding out with all our family surrounding us." I said

"What do you think it will be?" he asked

"My motherly instincts are telling me its a girl and I really hope I'm right" I said

"I hope it's a girl too, don't get me wrong I would love it if the baby were a boy, but there is something about having a girl that gets me really excited to be a father." he said

"Yeah I wouldn't mind it at all if the baby turned out to be a boy" I said. We finally arrived at the doctor's office; we went inside and I filled out all the paperwork that needed to be done. While we waited I put my head on Jared's shoulder I was feeling a little extra tired today for some reason, but that always happens every once in a while.

"Michaela Stone" I heard someone say. I saw a nurse standing by the door waiting for me to follow her inside. We got up and followed her to the room I was given. I sat down on the examination table while we waited for the doctor to come in.

"Hi Michaela. How are you feeling?" Doctor Bradley asked once he entered the room

"I'm doing great." I replied

"Have you had any problems so far with the pregnancy?" he asked

"No, none that I know of. I've been feeling great lately just a little tired." I said

"That's to be expected. Have you been taking your daily vitamins?" he said

"To my dismay yes I have" I said both the doctor and Jared laughed at my comment.

"Okay good. Now how about I look at how the baby is doing. Lay back on the table and lift up your shirt a little?" he said. I did as I was told and waited patiently for him to put the cold gel on my stomach. Even though I was expecting the coldness of the gel I still felt the hairs on my arms stand up from the temperature.

"Okay let's take a look." he said. When he moved the scanner to the right place on my stomach I immediately heard the baby's heartbeat. I'm always in awe whenever I hear it. It's hard to believe that there is an actual human living and growing inside me and this moment makes it even more surreal. I looked over at Jared and saw the happy expression on his face as he was hearing our baby's heartbeat.

"Now this is your 16 week ultrasound which means we can look to see if we can find out the gender of the baby. Do you want me to do that?" doctor Bradley said

"Yes you can look to see what we're having, but could you write it down on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. We don't want to know the gender just yet." I said

"Yes of course I can do that. Let me take a look to see if we can figure out the gender." he said. I saw him moving the scanner around and then he spoke.

"Okay I was able to tell the gender let me go get a nurse to write it down for you and put it in an envelope. I'll be right back." he said and walked out of the room. He wasn't gone for that long because two seconds later he walked back inside.

"Okay the nurse will bring in your envelope in a minute. Everything looks good the baby is healthy and it has a strong heartbeat. Keep taking your medicine, rest and I'll see you for your 20 week scan." he said

"Okay thank you Doctor Bradley" I said

"Your welcome" he said. I heard Jared say thank you as the doctor walked out. I turned to him and had a big smile on my face.

"Can you believe it we're going to be parents in a few short months" he said

"Sometimes it doesn't feel real to me, but I'm over the moon with excitement." I said

"I can't wait until we find out what we are going to have. It's going to be such a special moment with our families there to give us love and support."

"Yeah it really will be special." I said and then I got up and I kissed him. I'm so happy that I have him back in my life.

"Thank you for giving me this" he said after we broke apart and he put his hand on my growing stomach while saying it.

"You don't have anything to thank me we both did this together. We have this baby in our lives because of the both of us." I said

"Actually I do have to thank you because you could have easily kept the pregnancy to yourself and not told me about it. After everything that happened I honestly wouldn't have blamed you if you had, but you didn't. You let me be a part of our child's life and yours too so thank you." he said

"I know that I wasn't happy when I found out you married my best friend, but I promise you I wouldn't have kept it from you." I said

"I love you so much" he said

"I love you too." I said I kissed him again, but it didn't last long since we heard the door to the room open.

"Okay here is your envelope and once you confirm your appointment with the receptionist you should be good to go. Have a nice day." the nurse said

"Thank you, you too." Jared replied. We made our next appointment and headed home. The entire drive home both of us were dying to open up the envelope and find out the gender, but we restrained ourselves from doing it and put it out of sight so that we wouldn't be tempted again. We talked more about the baby and the gender reveal party and that's how we spent the rest of the drive home.

"Ben are you home?" I said once we got inside.

"Yeah what's up" he said as he was walking out of his room

"We just got back from the doctors appointment." I said

"How did it go?" he asked

"It went great the baby is healthy and doing well. We actually have something for you." I said

"Okay what do you have?" he asked

"We were able to find out the gender of the baby today and we wanted you to be the first to find out. We don't know what the baby is and we don't want to find out just yet. We want to throw a gender reveal party with our families and you're in charge of finding a way for us to find out the gender." I said

"Wow thank you for entrusting me with this. I won't disappoint I promise." he said

"You're welcome" I said "Well I'm going to go eat something and take a nap" I continued

"Okay" he said. I walked into the kitchen and started making a sandwich. For some reason I was craving a sandwich and chips, so I decided that was going to be my food. Hopefully we have chips because I can't remember if we bought any. I checked through the pantry and luckily was able to find potato chips. Once I finished my meal I went straight to bed.

"I'm going to take a nap you want to join me" I said to Jared, who was sitting in the living room watching the tv.

"Of course I'll join you I'll be there in a sec" he said

"Okay" I said and started walking towards our room. I changed out of my clothes and got into comfy pajamas and got into bed. I was starting to drift off when I heard the door open and shuffling around the room. Then I felt the other side of the bed dip and Jared's arms go around me. I turned around and put my head on his chest and fell asleep.

Four days later…

Since the gender reveal party was going to be small and intimate it wasn't hard to plan it in a few days. We decided to throw the party at my dad's house since he was the only one with a backyard we could use for the reveal. Since it is still winter the party is going to be inside the house and the reveal will be done outside. Today is finally the day that we get to find out the gender of our baby and we couldn't be more excited. We have waited as patiently as possible, but we have been dying to find out. Jared had to go to work, but he will be out in time for the party so that leaves just Ben and I to pick up all the things that we need to pick up before heading to my dad's house.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked him

"Yeah I'm ready" he said

Once we were in the car and on the road I asked "where are we going first?"

"We are going to the baby store" he said

"Why?" I asked

"I called this store to make sure that they had gender reveal confetti cannons. The color of the baby's gender will be inside and when the time comes you twist the bottom and you'll find out what it is" he said

"And you're sure this store has them?" I asked

"Yeah I am. I'm getting two of them so that there will be a lot of confetti." he said

"Okay I just want everything to be perfect today" I said

"Don't worry everything will" he said. We did everything we had to do before heading to the house. We picked up balloons, desserts, decorations and food we had so much that we didn't have anymore room for anything else. We finally got to our dad's house and started to unload the car. I saw my dad open the door and head towards us.

"Hi dad" I greeted him

"Hey sweetie" he gave me a hug and a kiss on my head "do you guys need a hand?" he asked

"Yes please we would love your help we have a lot of things to unload. The more help the better." I said. With the three of us unloading the car it didn't take a lot of time getting everything inside. Once everything was put in its place we started decorating the house. Everything turned out beautiful we had a perfect balance between pink and blue and I couldn't be more excited for everyone to see how pretty it looks. My good mood was not long lived. I got a text from Lourdes. I invited her to the party with the hope that she would come, but unfortunately I didn't get my wish. She texted me letting me know that she won't be able to attend since she has this important meeting regarding her research for her masters degree. I tried to not let it get to me especially today, I understand why she isn't coming I just wish that she could still stop by even for just a few minutes. I picked up my phone and started a call it wasn't long before he picked up and I heard his voice.

"Hey what's up?" Jared said

"Hey I was just calling to let you know that everything is all done and set up. Will you be here before the party starts?" I said

"That's great and yeah I'll be there on time I just need to finish up a few loose ends over here and I'll be good to go." he said

"Okay. Lourdes texted me today." I said

"What did she say?" he asked

"She just let me know that she won't be able to come today." I said

"Really?" he said

"Yeah" I replied

"How do you feel about that?" he asked

"Well I have mixed emotions about it. A part of me understands that she can't get out of her meeting, but the other part of me wants her to ditch the meeting and come anyway and right now the selfish side of me is winning." I said

"It's your day today don't let this upset you and stop you from being happy and enjoying your party. There will always be other things she can come to like your baby shower." he said

"That's true, but your wrong" I said

"What do you mean?" he asked

"It's not my day it's our day. We both get to find out the gender of our child it's not just me." i said

"That is true well I'm going to have to let you go if you want me to show up on time." he said

"Okay I'll see you later. I love you" I said

"I love you too" he replied back before he hung up the phone. I heard my dad walk towards me so I turned around and gave him a smile.

"Everything looks beautiful." he said

"Thanks dad. I really wish mom were here to see this. I believe she would have loved it." I said

"Yeah she would have, but she is here in spirit darling so don't worry about her not being here because I bet you she is watching over us right now." he said while giving me a hug

"I know it's just hard. I visited her a few weeks ago" I said

"You did?" he asked

"Yeah I had been so busy that I didn't have the time to do it before and I feel like it wasn't just that either. I could have easily made time to visit her, but I think that I wasn't ready to face the facts. That day I felt like I was finally ready." I explained

"It's understandable everyone is different when it comes to mourning a loved one's loss; I'm glad that you finally have some peace of mind" he said.

"Yea me too" I said. After our conversation we just tried to fix some last minute things with the decorations. Jared showed up on time just like he said he would and then we just waited for our first guests to arrive. Once everyone arrived we opened up all the food trays so that people could grab food to eat. Everything was going so well and I couldn't have been happier. We waited two hours before we did the reveal so that everyone could enjoy themselves. When it was finally time I was so excited, but also very nervous. We were in the middle of winter, but I'm glad that it wasn't snowing outside. It was cold, but we really wanted to do the reveal outside. Ben had bought two confetti cannons, he gave me and Jared one each.

"Okay when we count to three you guys twist the end of the cannon." Ben said

"Okay" we both said

"Ready?" he asked us

"Yeah" we both said

"One, two, three" everyone said. Jared and I twisted the bottoms of our cannons and we were engulfed in a cloud of pink confetti.

"We're having a girl" I said to Jared when I turned to look at him.

"Yes we are." he said and he grabbed me and spun me around. Once he put me down he kissed me and we were extremely happy in this moment. Everyone came over to us giving us so many hugs and congratulating us. I was excited for what the future held for me, Jared and our little girl, Evie Adriana.


	11. The kiss

In the following days after the gender reveal party we bought some of the baby necessities like clothes, diapers, pacifiers, baby bottles, a stroller and a car seat. I took a trip down to the hardware store to look at some paint colors for the nursery. I haven't found the right color for the nursery yet so I'm still looking. Jared and I are in the process of looking for a house nearby. We've been looking online and calling to schedule viewings of the houses we found. There is one house that is beautiful in the pictures online and I'm hoping it will be just as beautiful in real life. If it is then that house my be the winner out of all of them. Since we don't have a house yet for now we're going to buy all the furniture we need and put it in the spare bedroom in the apartment. I'm currently on my way to work, but I honestly would rather be baby shopping instead. I've never been the kind of person who loved to shop so it came as a big surprise that I fell in love with baby shopping. I'm hoping for a more relaxed day today usually that's not the case, but a girl can dream right. I got to my desk and got to work. Half way through my work day I got a text message from Lourdes. I hadn't heard from her since the day of the party so it was nice that she was texting me.

"Hey" she said

"Hi how are you doing?" I replied back to her

"I'm doing good. How are you and the baby?" She said

"We're doing good too." I texted

"So I was wondering if I could come and see you today. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages." She said

"I would love that. I'm currently at work right now, but your free to come after I finish up here." I said

"Okay sounds great what time do you want me to head over there?" She asked

"You can come over at six and we can have dinner too if you want" I said

"Yeah that sounds good I'll see you then" she texted me

"Okay see you then." I replied and then I put my phone away and got back to work.

Jared's POV

Today was one of those rare days when I had the day off, but Michaela doesn't usually it's the other way around. I didn't know what to do with myself, so I decided that I would get a haircut. I wanted to cook dinner tonight as a way to do something special for Mic. I went down to the store and bought everything I needed to make dinner. Michaela loves italian food so i decided that's what I was going to make. When I looked at the time after I finished it was already 6pm she should be getting home soon. A few minutes later I heard a knock at the door. At first I found it kind of weird because Michaela usually has her key with her. I made my way to the door, but instead of finding Michaela behind it I found Lourdes. I hadn't seen her or even talked to her since the day I left.

"Hi" she said

"Uh hi" I said surprised to see her in front of me

"Is michaela home? I told her I would stop by." she said. At that moment my phone went off; I looked at the screen and it was a text from Michaela.

"This is her actually she just wanted to let me know she is going to be a little late. You can come in and wait for her if you want." I said. I'm assuming that she got a text from michaela too since she reached into her back pocket and took out her phone to look at who texted her.

"I guess I'll wait for her. She says she won't be long." Lourdes said. I stepped aside so that she could enter the apartment. You could cut the tension with a knife in here. It was awkward and dead silent. I didn't know what to say and she didn't say anything at all. I kind of wished i hadn't finished cooking so fast I could have easily used that as my excuse to leave the living room. We were just sitting in silence waiting for Mic to get home. I had enough with the silence and I decided to say something.

"How have you been?" I asked her.

"I've been good. How about you?" she replied

"I've been great" I said to her "listen I'm sorry for the way everything went down. I really didn't want to hurt you it was never my intention." I continued

"You're forgetting that I know the person you are I wouldn't have married you if I didn't which is why I know that it wasn't your intention for this to happen the way it did. You're not that kind of person, but I was hurt either way and that's something you can't change." she said I stayed silent as a sign for her to continue. " I thought that we were happy together I mean we were planning to have kids together soon, so finding out that my world has been turned upside down from a person who wasn't you hurt a lot. I knew deep down that you weren't completely over Michaela. You changed when she came back you oddly became the person you were before the disappearance. That thought was confirmed the day of you're hearing when you risked your job to save Michaela from getting in trouble. You love your job way too much to put it on the line for someone else. The only person that you would ever do that for is Michaela because you have this tendency of making sure she is okay and safe, but I let it go and put it in the back of my mind." she said

"I really am sorry." I said

"I know" she replied back. The room became filled with awkward silence again, so I did the only thing I could think of that didn't involve us talking about our breakup.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I offered

"Yeah sure. Can I have water please?" she replied

"Of course" I said. I got up from my seat and went into the kitchen. I was glad that she couldn't see into the kitchen from the living room because I spent a few minutes just standing there doing nothing trying to waste time. Once I got the water I walked back into the living room and went to hand it to her.

"Thanks" she said as she reached for the cup, but she didn't have a good hold on it. It slipped through her fingers and fell on the floor. There was ice, glass and water all over the floor, good thing it wasn't carpet. We both leaned down to cleanup the mess. As I went to pick up a piece of ice she went to pick up the same one and our hands touched. She pulled away quickly, but we both looked up at each other. One minute we're just staring at each other and the next she leaned forward to kiss me. It happened so fast that I wasn't able to grasp what was going on, but I pulled away from her immediately. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"What is going on in here?" I heard someone say behind me. I turned around and saw Michaela standing at the door. She turned around and practically ran out the door I got up and went after her.

"Michaela wait? Mic please" I said. I finally caught up to her and grabbed her hand, but she pulled it away quickly. "Please let me explain what you saw" I continued she didn't say anything, but she also didn't move to walk away. "Lourdes dropped the glass of water I gave her and when it shattered on the floor we both went to clean up the mess. As we were cleaning we both grabbed the same piece of ice and our hands accidentally touched she pulled away immediately, but when we looked up at each other she leaned in to kiss me. It all happened so fast, but I pulled away immediately I swear." I explained hoping that she would believe me.

"I just want to be left alone for now. If there's an emergency you can find me at Grace's but please leave me be for tonight." she said

"Okay" is all I said as I watched her turn around and leave. I walked back to the apartment and found lourdes sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. When she heard me walk in she looked up.

"What happened?" she asked

"She's spending the night at Grace's. She asked that she be left alone tonight." I said

"I'm sorry I don't know what came over me. I guess that I just missed you so much and when we were staring at each other, I don't know it just felt like old times. I'm really sorry if I ruined things between you and Michaela. It's probably best that I leave now" she said. Lourdes got up and left. This afternoon was supposed to go, so differently it was supposed to be a great night with a romantic dinner. Instead I'm all alone in the apartment while my girlfriend is staying somewhere else most likely upset with me, but I wouldn't blame her if she is. I just sat down and stared up at the ceiling.

Michaela's POV

I was hoping I would be able to get home on time today, unfortunately all this traffic on the road isn't going to let that happen. Since I wasn't moving at the moment I texted jared and Lourdes letting them know that I'll be running a little late. Hopefully Lourdes will wait for me to get home; I haven't seen her in a little while and I want to catch up with her. Ten minutes go by and we are only moving at ten miles per hour. Then I see it, the cause of the traffic was an accident between three cars. Once I finally get passed, everyone returns to driving at the normal speed limit. I reached the parking garage and parked in my spot I saw that Ben's spot was still empty. I grabbed all my things and got out of the car. Once I reached the door for the apartment I put the key into the doorknob and opened the door. The scene before me broke my heart into a million pieces. Jared and Lourdes were kissing in the living room. Jared turned around and saw me standing at the door. Before any of them could say anything I turned around and ran out of the apartment I was hoping I could get away before any of them could catch up to me, but that wasn't the case. Jared easily caught up to me and grabbed my hand to stop me. The minute he touched me I pulled my hand away. He tried to explain what happened, but I didn't want to hear it at the moment. I just wanted to be as far as possible from him and Lourdes.

"Please let me explain what you saw." he pleaded. As much as I wanted to walk away and not hear his explanation I knew that I deserved to know why they kissed, so I stayed silent so that he could continue. "Lourdes dropped the glass of water I gave her and when it shattered on the floor we both went to clean up the mess. As we were cleaning we both grabbed the same piece of ice and our hands accidentally touched she pulled away immediately, but when we looked up at each other she leaned in to kiss me. It all happened so fast, but I pulled away immediately I swear." he said. I know that Jared wouldn't lie to me. Even if he really screwed up, but only because I believe what he is saying doesn't make the pain go away.

"I just want to be left alone for now. If there's an emergency you can find me at Grace's but please leave me be for tonight." I said. I'm hoping that he will respect my wishes and not come and find because I really need tonight to just talk to someone. I turned around and went back to my car. Once inside I grabbed my phone and called Grace. I haven't spoken to her or seen her since Ben and her went their separate ways, but I know that she will welcome me with open arms. The phone rang a few times before someone picked up on the other end.

"Hello" grace said

"Hey grace" I said

"Michaela how are you? I haven't seen you in a little while" she said

"I'm actually not doing so great. Would you mind if I spent the night at the house?" I asked

"You know that you're welcome here whenever you want. Is everything alright? Is the baby okay?" she asked I could tell that she was getting worried.

"Yeah the baby is fine. I'll explain everything once I get there." I said

"Okay I'll see you soon. Please drive safe." she said

"I will, see you" I said and then I hung up the phone. I started the car and backed out of my spot. The drive to the house was extremely silent I didn't even feel like turning on the radio, but all I could think about was them kissing and it was starting to get me upset. I needed to get to the house safely, so I eventually gave in and turned on the radio to distract me from my thoughts. The minute I was parked in the driveway I got out of the car and sprinted to the door. Grace was already waiting for me with the door open; she must have seen the lights in the driveway. When I reached the door Grace let me in. We walked silently to the island in the kitchen and sat on the stools.

"Do you want anything? I made dinner." was the first thing she said. I was about to say that I was good until I remembered that I hadn't eaten dinner yet and I couldn't starve the baby.

"Yeah I'll have a plate of food." I said. She gave me grilled chicken with potatoes and vegetables. She put a decent amount on the plate I had to at least try and get through most of it, even if I'm not in the mood to eat. While she was grabbing the food I got up and grabbed a water bottle. I sat back down and Grace put down the plate of food in front of me.

"So what happened?" she asked me

"I walked in on Jared and Lourdes kissing in the apartment" I said

"Im sorry Mic. Did you get an explanation?" she said

"Yeah I did, but I almost didn't" I replied

"What do you mean?" she asked

"Well the minute my shock wore off I ran out of the apartment and went straight for the elevator. Jared caught up to me and I let him explain what happened" I said

"What did he say?" Grace replied

"He told me that he gave Lourdes a glass of water and that it slipped through her hands and shattered on the floor. They both went to clean up the mess and at one point their hands touched because they went to pick up the same piece of ice. Lourdes pulled away, but when they looked up at each other she leaned in and kiss him. He said that he pulled away immediately." I explained

"Wow that's a lot to take in. Do you believe what he said?" she asked

"Yeah I do. I know that he wouldn't lie to me. He has always been truthful with me since the beginning. I have no reason not to believe him, but that doesn't make the pain any easier to deal with. Do you have any advice for me?" I asked her

"Well how do you feel about the situation?" she asked

"I mean I'm not mad at him he didn't do anything wrong. I'm more upset with Lourdes, but I surprisingly don't blame her. Ever since they both split I felt like I got in the way of what could have been a beautiful future for them. If it weren't for me they would still be married. So seeing them kiss and finding out that Lourdes was the one who initiated it kind of feels like karma. I took Jared away from her and now I find them together in the apartment" I said

"I say clear your head tonight. Don't stress out about and just relax. Think about what you want to do tomorrow. I think in a way you've forgiven both of them. Your relationship with Jared won't change, but I have this feeling that your friendship with Lourdes is a different story." she said

"I don't know what to think when it comes to Lourdes. I guess you're right in a way I have forgiven her, but I don't think I can easily forget what I saw. I feel like my trust in her has faltered a little bit." i said

"I honestly don't blame you. I say follow what your heart is telling you to do. No one knows you better than yourself. I know you'll make the right decision in regards to your friendship with Lourdes." she said

"Yeah you're right" I replied

"Okay I'm going to go check on the kids you finish eating if you need anything I'll be upstairs. Oh and I haven't touched anything in your old room so it should be exactly the way you left it." she said

"Okay thanks Grace, for everything" I said to her

"You're family you have nothing to thank me for" she said. She gave me one last smile before heading upstairs. I finished eating and cleaned up before I went to my room. Even though Jared told me what happened I wanted to hear Lourdes' side of the story I deserved to know. I left my room and went to find Grace.

"Hey Grace I'm going to take a drive I'll be back soon" I told her

"Okay drive safe" she replied back. I left and drove to Lourdes' hopefully she'll be home when I get there. I saw a light turned on in the house when I went to park my car. I knocked on the door and waited for her to open it.

"Michaela" she said a little surprised to see me

"Can I come in?" I asked her

"Yeah of course" she said while stepping to the side to let me in

"Jared told me what happened before I left for Grace's. I just want to hear your side of the story and why you did it." I said

"What did he tell you?" she asked

"He told me that you dropped a glass of water it shattered on the floor and that the both of you went to clean up the mess. Your hands touched at one point, but you pulled away and then you both looked up and then you kissed him" I explained

"Yeah that sounds right" she said

"Oh I know that, I never doubted that it wasn't the truth. Jared has never lied to me not ever so I knew from the moment he told me that it was the truth. I just wanted to see if you said the same thing. So now that you have my next question is why? I know you said that you forgave me for taking him from you, but was this your way of getting back at me?" I asked

"No I promise I didn't do it because I wanted to get back at you. I meant what I said before I forgive you." she said

"Then if it wasn't that why did you do it?" I said

"I don't know." is all she said. Since I clearly wasn't getting what I came here for I turned around and headed for the door.

"No wait please." I stopped at the sound of her voice. I turned to face her and waited for her to keep talking.

"Okay maybe I was jealous. When you came back I was afraid of something like this happening. I didn't want to lose him, but something inside me knew that I would. The day the plane came back I was so excited to hear that you were back. As the days went by something in Jared changed something I hadn't seen in a long time. It started making me afraid for our marriage. He was more energetic and he was more anxious to get to work. He talked about you more. I knew that he wasn't completely over you when we first got together, but I ignored it because I wanted to be with him and I just thought that he would completely get over his feelings for you after a few years. We had a plan that we would start having kids soon and I guess I'm jealous that you get to live the life that was taken from me. When I kissed him it felt like everything was back to the way it was. I missed him so much and it doesn't matter how much I still love him I know I'm not getting him back." she explained

"I know the feeling. When I first saw Jared and saw the wedding band on his ring finger my world came crashing down. When the plane landed I had every intention of telling him that I was going to marry him and then finding out that I had been missing for five and half years and coming home to my boyfriend being married to the person I considered to be my best friend it crushed me. For those first few days I didn't know what to do or think. That day that you came down to the precinct to see me I told Jared that looking at the both of you together made me want to throw up and faint. The difference between you and me is that even though I was still in love with him I made sure to never let anything get too far. I made sure that I controlled myself." I said

"I'm so sorry it was stupid and I promise you it won't happen again. I'll understand if you can't forgive me" she said

"I already have, but I don't know if I can trust you as easily as I used to. Just like how you wanted to take our friendship day by day after your split with Jared I'm going to do the same" I told her

"Okay I can live with that, I deserve that." she said

"I need to get going before Grace starts getting worried I told her I was going for a drive and I've been gone a little while now" I said

"Okay" she said I got up and walked to the door she followed behind me. I walked to my car and turned it on. Before I pulled away I looked back up at the door and saw that the lights were off in the living room and the door was closed. Once I got back to the house I walked in and to my surprise Grace was waiting for me to come back home.

"Hey" I said

"You're back. How was your drive?" she asked

"Eventful. I drove to Lourdes' house." I told her

"How did it go?" she asked

"It went well. I asked her why she kissed Jared and at first all she said was I don't know, but after I made a move to leave she told me that she missed Jared and that she still loves him so much. She knows that she wont have him back, but she can't help and be jealous when she looks at me and him. I get to have the life that she thought she would get to have with him. She told me she was sorry and I told her that I forgave her, but that she broke my trust in her and that I don't want to jump back into the way we were because things have changed. I want to take our friendship day by day." I explained

"Well it's good that the both of you talked and you got to hear her side of the story." she said

"Yeah. It's getting a little late I'm going to turn in for the night." i said mid-yawn

"I should probably head to bed too I have to get up a little early to make breakfast for the kids tomorrow." Grace said

"Okay goodnight" I said

"Goodnight" she replied

The next morning…

I woke up and knew it was time for me to go home, but before I did I was going to go downstairs and eat the breakfast that I could smell all the way from the kitchen. I got up made the bed and went downstairs.

"Good morning" I said to Grace when I entered the kitchen. She was sitting at the island drinking her coffee and eating breakfast.

"Morning" she replied back. I grabbed some food and sat across from her. We ate in silence with the tv being the only source of noise in the house. The kids had already left with Ben early this morning. He told me a few days ago that he was going to take them out and have a bonding day which I thought was a great idea.

"Are you heading back home after breakfast?" she asked

"Yeah" I said

"Do you know if Jared will be home?" she replied

"I think so. I pretty sure that he doesn't have to go into work until later today." She said getting up and cleaning up

"Well good luck and remember anything you need I'm here and you are always welcomed here. I hate to leave you, but I need to head to the catering kitchen. Let me know how it goes." she said

"Okay I will" I replied back to her as she grabbed her things. With one last goodbye and wave Grace left for work. I was left alone in the empty house. I finished eating my food, cleaned my plate and left the house. My drive back home was calming. I turned on the radio and just listened to music as I drove. I arrived at the apartment and the moment I drove into the parking garage my earlier comment to Grace was proven right. Jared's car was parked in his spot. I parked my car and headed upstairs. Once in the elevator I pressed the button for the second level and waited for the doors to close. I put my key in the doorknob and opened the door I walked inside and looked around the apartment for Jared. I opened the door to our bedroom and found him lying on our bed with his eyes closed. I wasn't sure if he was asleep or awake, but the minute the door closed his eyes opened and he looked up to see who walked in.

"Hey" he said as he got up to reach me. I walked to him and didn't say anything instead I kissed him.

"Does that mean that you forgive me?" he asked after we pulled away

"There was nothing for me to forgive. You didn't do anything wrong; actually you did everything right. You pulled away the minute she kissed you. I know that some part of you still loves her and I understand that. I mean you guys were happily married you could have easily kissed her back, but you didn't. I didn't leave last night because I was mad at you and thought you did something wrong. I left because I needed time to think and I needed to talk to someone. I also went to see Lourdes last night. I wanted to see if she told me the same thing you told me. I never doubted what you said. I knew that you didn't lie to me, but I also went there because I wanted to hear why she kissed you. We had a long talk in the end I forgave her, but i told her that my trust in her isn't the same anymore." I told him

"I love you so much and i hope you know that I would never do anything that would jeopardize our relationship. I lost you once and I'm not going to lose you again you mean way too much to me." he said

"I know and I love you too" I told him


	12. New Threat

"Can I ask you to do me one favor?" Jared looked at me and immediately shook his head in agreement. "I know that this may be kind of awkward to talk about, but after everything that's happened I want to know this. Can you tell me why you married Lourdes?"

"After you disappeared I found it hard to wake up every morning. I buried myself in work and that's all I did for almost two years. I worked towards becoming a detective and that was my only focus in life. It made it easier to get through every day. During that time Lourdes and I started hanging around each other more. I felt like the only person who I could talk to and who understood what I was going through was her. After a while this bond was created between us and I felt like I could be happy again. When you came back I realized that I wasn't truly happy with my marriage even though I thought I was. You are my entire world and I don't want to live in a world without you in it. I tried to do it once and it was terrible. Like I've told you before I never replaced you with Lourdes you always were and always be my soulmate." I was tearing up a little as he said this and as much as I tried to hide it it didn't work.

"Are you crying?" he pulled me into a hug as he spoke

I looked up at him and looked him straight in the eyes "yeah I guess I am; the pregnancy hormones aren't helping me either"

"I can imagine" he said with a small laugh

"Thank you for telling me that. I know that it probably made you a little uncomfortable, but it was just something I was thinking about and wanted to know the answer to."

"You're welcome. Now I have to go into work in a few hours, but until then we have time for ourselves. Do you have anything you want to do?"

"Can we just watch movies in bed? I could really use a movie day to just relax a little"

"Okay movie day it is"

After Jared left for work I just looked around the kitchen for something to eat. While I was cooking I heard the sound of keys. Ben must have cut the day short with the kids if he was home already. When I went to go say hi I saw that cal and olive were also with him.

"Hey guys" they all turned around from putting their coats on the coat rack

"Hi" they said in unison. Olive and Cal came over to give me a hug before settling in front of the tv.

"That's a surprise that you came home early and with the kids. I thought you guys were going to hang out all day." I asked ben

"Yeah we had a little change of plans, but we're going to be heading back out in a few hours to go play laser tag. I thought that until we were ready to head over we could hang out here"

"I'm making food if you want some"

"You're cooking? Is it safe to eat or am I going to end up poisoned?"

"Haha very funny. I've been working on my cooking skills and you know that. I've gotten a lot better at it."

"I know I was just teasing you. Thanks for the offer though we actually just ate, but maybe when I come back home later I'll eat some."

"Okay" I turned around and went back into the kitchen to check on the food I was making. Ben was following close behind me.

"Jared told me what happened yesterday"

"He did?"

"Yeah I was wondering where you were yesterday since I came home and saw that your car wasn't parked downstairs."

"Yeah well everything is fine between me and Jared, but I can't say the same for me and Lourdes"

"That's understandable"

"Sometimes I feel like all of this is happening because of me."

"You know that's not true"

"I know, but I can't help feeling like that sometimes"

"Do you want to join us and play laser tag later?"

"Is it even safe for me to play?" I pointed at my stomach and I could see the realization hit on his face.

"Oh that's right. I actually don't know"

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just have a quiet afternoon and stay in"

"If you need anything just give me a call"

"Okay I will" I spent most of the afternoon just laying in bed it's not something I do often. At some point I must have fallen asleep since the minute I woke up I noticed that the movie I was watching had ended. I got up to get a glass of water; Ben and the kids were getting ready to leave.

"Hey you're up. I went to say goodbye to you, but I saw that you were asleep."

"Yeah I must have been more tired than I thought. I had a long day yesterday. Are you guys heading out?"

"Yeah we are. Remember if you need anything just" I cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"Give you a call. I got it"

"Okay well I'll see you later"

"Bye aunt Mick" the kids said to me

"Bye have fun" I closed the door behind them and went to kitchen. Once I had my water I went back to my room. I somehow was able to fall asleep with the clothes I was wearing for the day. Usually it's not easy for me to fall asleep in jeans, but somehow I did this time. I changed my clothes just in case I were to fall asleep again. I got a text from Saanvi while I was getting changed. She wanted to update me on the passengers. We're starting to get a little worried since only a few passengers have woken up since we saved them from warehouse. We still haven't figured out what is causing them to wake up which hasn't helped us at all. We have a lot on our plates right now. We're trying to figure out what happened to the plane and if we do hopefully that will help us wake up the remaining detainees. Since we don't have anything right now Saanvi is working around the clock to try and find a medical way to wake them up, but nothing has been working and on top of that we only have 2 months left in the beach house before we have to move so we're currently looking for a place to move everyone. We haven't heard much about the major recently which worries us. If she's keeping quiet she could be trying to figure out how to find us. Luckily this beach house doesn't belong to anyone of us which will make finding us a lot harder. Ben has been keeping a watchful eye on Cal making sure he stays safe and that the major doesnt find out about him. Hopefully we'll be able to find out what happened soon. Its safe to say we're all on high alert. Jared walked in through the door and broke me out of my thoughts. When I went to get up and greet him I got dizzy and stumbled against the bed. I heard the words "she's listening" in my head.

"Michaela" he ran to me and held me up just in case I fell "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I didn't want him to get involved. I always tried to keep everything to myself to make sure to keep him out of any danger that could come our way, so I tried to play it off "Nothing I'm fine. I just stood up too quickly and got a little dizzy"

"I know that that's not true. Did you have a calling?"

I knew that if I lied he would see right through me so there was no point in trying "Yeah I did"

"What did it say?" I looked at him with an expression that said I don't want to say anything, but he gave me a look that said I'm going to find out either way

"It said she's listening"

"She as in the major" that's what I thought when I heard the calling which got me worried.

"Yeah it seems like it", but I also thought of something else "What if she isn't referring to the major, but someone else"

"That could be possible"

"I've gotten the callings wrong before and I could be wrong again, but I think that we have a spy"

"Talk to Ben and see what he says. He'll help you understand the calling" I didn't want to call Ben right now and tell him because I know that he would come home and try and figure out the mystery with this calling. I don't want him to cut his time with his kids short.

"I'll let him know when he gets home he's out with the kids right now" he gave me a look of understanding

"Are you sure you're okay now?"

"Yeah I'm okay now" he gave me a look that said are you telling me the truth "I promise I'm 100% okay. Enough about me how was work?"

"We have a new case to work on. Are you coming in tomorrow?"

"Yeah I am. I hate staying at home it bores me to death, but considering the circumstances of the pregnancy I get why it's best that I have more days off. I'm dying to get back into work"

"Don't worry once the baby is born you'll get to work more"

"What's the case about?"

"A man was found murdered in his home"

"Any suspects?"

"Not yet we're still in the process of questioning people and going through all of the evidence"

"Tomorrow should be an interesting day"

"Tell me about it" he gave me a quick kiss and he got up to change. I sat in my spot just thinking about the calling I got. I decided that I shouldn't worry about it until tomorrow. I have been enjoying my day and I'm not going to let this calling ruin it. I'll let Ben know about it tomorrow and we'll deal with it then. Jared came back and knelt in front of me he put his hand on my bulging stomach.

"Do you think she can move inside there yet?"

"I don't know I haven't felt her move yet so probably not"

"I wonder what she'll look like"

"Hopefully she'll have your eye color. I love your blue eyes" I blushed at his statement he noticed too; he gave me a big smile.

"Evie will be a perfect mix of the both of us"

"Yeah she will. I'm excited we're going to have this little human who will look like us and who we will take care of"

"That's a scary yet exciting thought at the same time" he got up from the floor and sat right beside me. Another thought came to mind and I needed to remind him before I forgot "We have a house viewing in a few days"

"Is it the house that we both really liked?"

"That's the one I'm hoping that it looks exactly like it does in the pictures"

"If it does it will definately be the winner" I smiled at him, but it was short lived. I thought about what my mom would think and feel if she knew about her granddaughter.

"Its crazy how much my life has changed since the plane landed. Do you ever think about what our lives would be like right now if I never disappeared?"

"After you came back that thought did come to mind"

"We would definitely have been married by now."

"How many kids do you think we would have had?"

"Most likely just Evie. Since I was already pregnant with her before the plane disappeared."

"You think?"

"Yeah I mean maybe we would have had a second child, but I think that we would have enjoyed having Evie as an only child until it was the right time."

"Yeah that's true. I would have been really happy to find out that you accepted my proposal. I remember being really worried that I proposed too soon after the accident I honestly thought you were going to say no. We would have been and will be the perfect little family. I couldn't imagine starting a family with anyone else other than you"

"I wish my mom were here to see us. She would be so happy and she would probably be hinting at us to get married soon."

"She always did love us together."

"I remember the day she met you. She fell in love with you from the start. I've had boyfriends in the past that weren't that great. She was happy that I finally found someone who is amazing."

"She would be proud of how you picked yourself back up after the plane landed. You were given a bad hand everything you knew had changed. You lost five and a half years of your life, but you managed to pick up all the pieces. I know I'm proud of you for that. I know that I didn't make it any easier always getting involved"

"I know that you only wanted to keep me safe and I appreciate that even if it annoyed me a lot while you were doing it" I said giving him my best smile I leaned in and kissed him. We fell back into the bed and started undressing each other. We spent the rest of the night engulfed in our own little world. I woke up early in the morning and turned around in Jared's arms. I watched him sleep and thought to myself how lucky I was to have him. I put my head down on his chest and went back to bed. When we both woke up later that morning we got up and started getting ready for the day. We were in the kitchen eating breakfast when Ben came out of his room.

"Morning" he said to the both of us

"Morning" we replied back in unison

"You guys heading to the precinct?"

"Yeah we are. What are you doing later?" I asked him.

"As of right now nothing. Why?"

"I got a calling last night. I heard the words she's listening; I thought maybe we could go to the beach house and talk to Saanvi and Fiona."

"Yeah that sounds good. Do you have any clue what it's about?"

"I have no idea it could be about the major, but I have been wrong before so that's why I wanted to meet at the beach house and talk about it"

"We have to head to work" Jared said while grabbing his things from the kitchen table.

I looked at Ben "I will text you when I'm done and we'll head over there from the precinct"

"Okay" Jared and I went out the door and headed downstairs to the garage. We talked about the case we're working on during the drive to work. It was a nice morning I'm excited to get back to work. I never really was a person who spent free time doing nothing since I can remember I always found something to do with my free time. Once inside the precinct we walked to our respective desks. I turned on my computer and started to get to work. Jared had already given me all the information we had so far on the case.

"Hey we just got back the results from the autopsy of the victim"

"Show me what you have"

"The victim was strangled it looks like by a person who was 6'1. The victim was 5'9 and had a strong build he died at around 10 pm one week ago. The criminal was most likely a man based on the strength needed to strangle someone of this size. When went through the crime scene there was a broken mirror which explains the cut marks on the victim's body. There was dried up blood left on some of the broken pieces it's being checked out as we speak. We've spoken to some of the family members of the victim. We're going to show them pictures of the crime scene and maybe they can point out if there's anything missing or out of the ordinary."

"Well at least now we have something else to work with. Did the house have security cameras"

"I believe they did"

"Good I'm going to contact the team on site and have them send me the files so that I can go through the surveillance from that week and see if I can find anything"

"Okay. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah I am"

"Let's order food and we'll eat in the break room. Do you have anything specific you want?"

"I could really go for a burger and fries right now"

"Okay I'll find a place and order" It was 45 minutes later that Jared came to get me to eat lunch

"Have you found anything so far?"

"No I've been looking at the surveillance from that week so far there's nothing out of the ordinary but I still have more to look at"

"Let me know if you do find something" I quickly grabbed my burger and fries and started eating. "You must be really hungry."

"Yeah this baby really builds up an appetite. I'm just glad I haven't been craving anything weird."

"What do you mean?"

"The other day while I was at home I decided to go on the internet and look up weird pregnancy cravings and what I found was gross"

"Like what?"

"There are some people who actually like pickles or sardines on pizza"

"That's disgusting"

"That's exactly what I said to myself. Pickles and sardines are the absolute worst. I'm glad I haven't been craving any of that."

"Talking about the baby when do you want to go furniture shopping for the nursery"

"We should go this weekend and get it over with that way if we decide to get the house we're looking at we'll have the furniture all ready to set up in the nursery."

"I have never put together a crib that should be interesting"

"I know that you'll do great"

"You have so much hope in me"

"That's because I know that you can do it. The crib is going to be easy to put together if you read the instructions so don't worry you won't mess up"

"Let's hope it's that easy. It's probably going to be as difficult as the furniture from Ikea everyone knows that Ikea furniture is impossible to put together especially if you're just one person"

"That's true" we finished eating our food and went back to work. We were almost done so I texted Ben to let him know. Once the day was over I packed up my stuff and waited for Jared to come meet me at my desk. We parked in front of the beach house and went inside. I know that Ben is already here since his car was outside.

I didn't know where everyone was so I screamed out hoping someone would hear me and respond. "Hello"

Saanvi was the first to respond "We're up here" we walked up the steps that led us to the second floor.

"How are the passengers doing?" I asked Saanvi

"They haven't changed. The only thing I can do at this point is keep them alive and let them heal. Hopefully they'll wake up soon."

"I had another calling yesterday"

"What was the calling?"

"She's listening" Fiona was the first to respond this time.

"She is in the major"

"I don't know that is what I wanted to figure out. It could most likely be the major since she's a girl, but I had a thought that maybe she could mean someone else"

"Like who?" Saanvi responded

"Maybe another passenger?" I waited for them to react to what I said. Ben spoke first.

"Do you really think it could be one of the passengers?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure but it could be a possibility. I mean if we have a spy in the mix the major could find out where we are, if she doesn't know already. Maybe it isn't about a passenger, but either way we need to be extra careful with what we say anything that could be used against stays between us. Each and everyone of us has proven that we can be trusted which rules us out as the potential spy"

"You bring up a good point. Anything that has to do with my son we keep between us. We'll try and keep as much information regarding everything else to ourselves, but we'll still share things with them as to not make us look suspicious. Who's with me?" We all nodded in agreement to Ben's proposition.

"We need to keep a close eye. If we see anything suspicious or anyone acting suspicious we tell each other immediately" I said to them I noticed that some of the passengers were missing. "Hey where's Autumn and the passengers that woke up."

"Autumn went out earlier and the other passengers are somewhere in the house" Saanvi responded back

"Okay well I'm glad that we have talked this over I think that we're going to head home now. I'll keep you updated on the calling" with that I grabbed Jared's hand and we left the beach house. I went straight to our bedroom once we got home.

"I'm going to take a bath do you want join me?" I said while giving him my best smile

"Of course I'll join you just give me a minute I'll meet you in there" I started the water, put some epsom salt and bubble bath soap that smells like lavender in the tub. Before I got in I made sure to put my hair into a messy bun so that it wouldn't get wet. Jared came in a few minutes later and got in behind me. I was leaning back on his chest with my head leaned back on his shoulder.

"Since when do you like baths?"

"Since I became pregnant. On my days off it's just something I enjoy doing" we sat in the tub for an hour and then we decided to get out and get changed into comfy clothes. We got ready for bed and fell fast asleep. At 2 am I woke up and really wanted something sweet. I poked Jared's side until he stirred awake.

"What's up? Is everything okay?" he sounded concerned so I immediately calmed his nerves.

"Yeah everything is fine I was just wondering if you can do me a favor?"

"Okay what is it?"

"I'm really craving something sweet right now could you get me a bowl of ice cream with whipped cream please?"

"You want ice cream this early in the morning?"

"Yeah"

"Okay let me go into the kitchen and see what we have" he came back ten minutes later with chocolate chip ice cream topped with whipped cream. He passed me the bowl and the spoon. I finished it in record time he watched me while I ate with a look of fascination.

"What?" I said mid-bite

"Nothing you just really surprise sometimes" I finished eating and put the bowl on the nightstand.

"Thank you for getting me the ice cream"

"Anything for you" we layed back down wrapped in each others arms and fell fast asleep.


	13. New Beginning

I looked around me and knew that this was going to be our future home. It was just as beautiful as the pictures that i saw a few days ago. The day finally came to see the house we had been interested in and Jared and I were beyond excited.

"What do you think? Should we put an offer on the house?" Jared asked after we finished viewing the house.

"Yeah I think we should. It would be perfect we have a nice backyard so that Evie can play whenever she wants its spacious and homie at the same time."

"Okay it's settled. Lets go tell the real estate agent" once everything was settled we drove back home excited for what the future will hold for us.

"Hey you guys are back? How was the viewing" I heard Ben say as we walked into the apartment.

"It went great. We put an offer on the house actually." I walked over to where Ben was standing, with Jared following behind.

"Really? That's great I'm happy for you guys I know you'll get the house. It's going to be a little more lonely without you guys"

"Don't worry we both know that you'll be at our house twenty-four seven"

"Yeah you're probably right" he chuckled

"So how are things going with you and Grace?"

"Not bad, but also not great. It's still awkward when we're in each other's presence. I'm giving her space because I don't want to overstep. I'm hoping that with time she'll be able to forgive me for what happened the day we saved the passengers."

"It'll get better with time"

"Yeah I hope so"

"Alright I'm going to get changed I'll be back in a few minutes" Jared spoke for the first time since we entered. Ben turned to me and smiled.

"I was about to order food do you want anything?"

"Thanks for the offer, but we're actually going to head out soon for dinner"

"You guys going on a date?"

"Yeah we thought that today's events were cause for a celebration"

"That's good get out and do something I feel like these days you've been stuck at home a lot and I know that must get boring"

"Yeah" Jared walked back into the room.

"Okay I'm ready we should probably head out"

"Okay" I turned back to face Ben.

"We'll see you when we get back"

"Have fun, but not too much fun" Jared cracked up laughing.

"Haha you're so funny." I playfully hit Jared's shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"That's what you get for laughing." I grabbed his hand and started pulling him out the door "come on before we're late for dinner."

"So where are you taking me?" we had been driving around for a little bit when I realized that I didn't even know where we were having dinner.

"I'm taking you to our favorite place."

"Torrencci's?"

"Yeah and then after I have a surprise for you"

"That sounds perfect" We arrived at the restaurant. We went inside waited a few minutes before we were shown to our table. We ordered our food and we talked while we waited. We ate our food and we laughed. It was nice taking a break from all the stress coming from the calling. We still haven't figured out who the mole is and we are starting get worried. We're walking on eggshells at the beach house trying to make sure that no one finds out any important information that might put us in danger. We finished our dinner and started heading back to the car. As I was about to open my door Jared stopped me and pulled a blind fold out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" I said as I gave him a questioning look

"Like I said the next part is a surprise and the only way I can keep it that way is by putting a blindfold on you so turn around"

"You know that I'm not a big fan of surprises. Stress is not good for the baby"

"Nice try, but that's not going to work on me."

"It was worth a try" I turned around and let him put the blindfold on.

"Okay now let me help you into the car" we drove around for a little while and I was getting more curious by the second.

"Are we almost there yet?"

"That's the second time you've asked that in the last 15 minutes."

"I can't help, but be curious."

"I can see that"

"So are we almost there?"

"We'll get there in a few minutes just be patient trust me you'll love it"

"Can I at least get one hint on where we're going?"

"Nope"

"Fine" I finally gave in; there was no point in trying to make him budge. When the car finally stopped I went to remove the blindfold, but before I could I was stopped by Jared's hand.

"Am I not allowed to take it off yet?"

"No not yet. I'm going to walk you to where we're going don't worry I'll make sure that nothing happens to you while we're walking" I heard him turn off the car and open his door. He opened my door and helped me out. He put his hands on my waist to help me walk around I grabbed onto his arm for dear life.

"Okay I'm going to take off your blindfold now" the minute I felt the blindfold come off I opened my eyes. The sight in front of me was something I wasn't expecting. There was a little area of the park that had a blanket on the floor with lights strung up all over. It was at this moment that I was glad it wasn't that cold outside today. There was ice cream in the middle of the blanket surrounded by rose petals. I turned around and I thought that I was already in as much shock as possible, but Jared proved me wrong because what I saw next put me in even more shock. Jared was on one knee holding the ring he gave me for his first proposal.

"I love you and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life. After the plane disappeared I felt like I lost a part of myself. Everyday was a struggle I didn't know what to do with myself. You're my entire world and you're giving me everything I ever wanted. You gave me a chance at becoming a father and I wouldn't want to do this with anyone other then you. Ever since the first day we met I knew that you were going to be someone special in my life. I know that after you came back I didn't make life easier for you, but I'm glad that you were able to forgive me and take me back. I didn't think I would get a second chance at spending the rest of my life with you. You're not only my best friend, but you're also my soulmate and my life is incomplete without you. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?" I was tearing up as he said his speech. He looked at me waiting for my answer.

"Yes. Yes I'll marry you" he stood up and gave me kiss.

"I love you so much"

"I Love you too" I said as he grabbed my left hand and put the ring on my ring finger. This time I made sure not to make the same mistake twice. We looked at each other and leaned back in to kiss each other. We stood there kissing before he pulled away and led me to the blanket.

"Since we somehow never eat dessert at Torrencci's I thought it would be great to eat some ice cream for dessert."

"And it's my favorite too"

"I made sure it was. Every night you wake up craving ice cream it's alway chocolate chip with whipped cream"

"How did you get this all set up?"

"I had a little help"

"And who might that help be so that I can give them a hug and a proper thank you because this looks beautiful"

"I called in a favor with Grace and she was happy to help and so were Olive and Cal"

"Well they did a great job I love it"

"I'm happy that you love it." I grabbed the bowl of ice cream and I grabbed some with the spoon. I signaled to Jared to open his mouth and I fed him the ice cream. We spent the rest of the night playing around with each other and feeding each other ice cream.

"You know when I came back and took my first steps into the precinct I didn't know what I was walking into. After that day I felt like it was a sign that I didn't deserve to be happy I'm glad that I was proven wrong. This is the happiest day of my life. We went through so much to get to the point we're at right now, but I wouldn't change it for the world" I put my forehead on his and touched our noses together. I closed my eyes and revelled in the feeling of having him with me.

"Do you want to get married before or after Evie is born?"

"After it would be beautiful to have her involved in our wedding."

"I agree now we just wait for our daughter's birth and then our wedding day" he put his hand on my face and stroked my cheek "do you know how long I've waited to be able to call you my fiancee?"

"I can imagine. I on the other hand am a different story"

"What do you mean?"

"After the plane landed I had already made the decision to marry you. When they were interviewing us I kept calling you my fiancee everytime I asked to call you"

"Looks like you beat me to it"

"Yeah I guess so"

Jared looked at his watch and then proceeded to look at me "should we head back home it's getting late and colder i wouldn't want you getting sick"

"Yeah we probably should"

"Here you head to the car and I'll clean everything up."

"I can help you it'll be done faster"

"It's okay I really don't want you getting sick"

"Okay I'll make sure to turn on the heat you're going to be really cold by the time you get to the car"

"And when we get home maybe you can help me get warm a way that doesn't involve a heated car"

"maybe" I said as I started walking backwards to the car. I gave him one last smile before I turned around and started walking correctly. I turned on the car and made sure to crank the heat all the way. I sat there lost in my thoughts. I looked at my ring and couldn't help but feel happiness surge throughout my body. The last time I wore this ring on my finger my entire life changed and now I was finally getting my life back together. The opening of the car door broke my thoughts; Jared was putting all the decorations in the backseat. He jumped into the front and I could tell he was freezing.

"I told you that you should have let me help you."

"Yeah it would have been faster, but you might have ended up sick. Your carrying our daughter so being sick may not be the best right now." as he said that he put one strand of my hair behind my ear and kept his hand by my face. I moved over a little in my seat to be closer to him.

"This is our new beginning. Everything that has happened in the past doesn't matter anymore what matters is that we have each other. Just as much as you need me I need you too. My life isn't the same without you. I know that you went longer without me, but those first weeks back were torture without you by my side. I didn't have my mom, Evie, Lourdes and I didn't have you. You were the one person that I wanted with me after I found out about my mom's passing and losing five and a half years of my life. You've told me before that I am your world, well I just wanted you to know that you're mine too. You make everyday worthwhile."

"Te adoro mi amor" I may not know how to speak spanish, but I've learned to understand certain words and sayings. Jared taught me what this meant the first time he said it to me.

"I love you too babe forever and always." we kissed for the tenth time this night before he faced forward and started driving back home. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket; I took it out and looked to see who it was. "Looks like we're going to have the apartment to ourselves tonight."

"How come?"

"Ben is going to be at the beach house tonight. He wants to see how the remaining passengers are doing, so he won't be back until tomorrow morning"

"An empty apartment you know what that means. The celebration will continue once we get home." I laughed and grabbed his free hand in mine. He picked up our linked hands and gave the back of my hand a kiss. I smiled and felt butterflies in my stomach. If it weren't for the fact that I know our baby hasn't started moving yet I1 might have actually thought that was her. It amazes me that after so many years together he can still make me feel this way. The minute we closed the front door to the apartment I pushed Jared up against the wall and kissed him we slowly made our way to our bedroom once inside we eagerly took each other's clothes off and fell into bed. We spent hours celebrating our engagement by the time we went to bed it was already three in the morning. We both went to bed feeling blissfully happy.

Grace's POV

I was enjoying my afternoon when I heard my phone ring. Jared's name was the caller ID on the phone I picked up immediately not knowing if it was an emergency, but silently hoping it wasn't.

"Hey jared"

"Hi Grace how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good how are you?"

"I'm doing great. Are you doing anything tonight I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?"

"What do you need?"

"Im taking Michaela out to dinner tonight. We viewed a house today and we fell in love with it we put an offer down and we're hoping that it will be accepted."

"Congratulations I'm so happy for you guys."

"Thank you. I was hoping you could help set up some decorations and some dessert in the park"

"Yes of course I can do that. Are you guys celebrating the offer on the house tonight?"

"That's part of it"

"Really what else are you guys celebrating?"

"Im proposing to Michaela tonight at the park"

"That's amazing Jared I'm so happy for you guys"

"I'm just hoping that she'll accept this time around"

"You and I both know that she will so don't worry about that. What time are you guys having dinner?"

"Our reservation is for six o'clock"

"Okay I'll make sure it's done before you guys finish dinner"

"Thank you so much Grace I really appreciate all your doing for me"

"Your welcome enjoy your night"

"Thank you" I hung up the phone and finished making lunch for the kids. I walked to the bottom of the staircase and yelled for the kids to come down.

"Kids lunch is ready" I went back into the kitchen and started serving food.

"Wow that smells delicious what's for lunch" Olive said as she walked into the kitchen

"Lasagna"

"Yum" Cal walked in at that exact moment

"Hey buddy are you hungry?"

"Im starving"

"Well then dig in" I put the plate down in front of Cal. "Would you guys be interested in helping me out with a secret project?"

Cal spoke up first "what's the project?"

"I got a call from Jared not that long ago and he wants my help to decorate a little area in the park for him."

"Is he taking Aunt Mick on a date?" Olive's curiosity was rising you could tell by the way she asked her question.

"Yeah he is, but he is also doing something else?"

"Like what?" asked Cal

"He's going to propose to aunt Mick"

"That's awesome I definitely helping you decorate" I was happy that Olive was on board.

"What about you buddy do you want to help?"

"Yeah i'll help"

"Great we'll leave at 6 to go decorate"

A few hours later

"I think this is a good spot what do you guys think?"

"Yeah this is perfect." Olive said as she looked around.

"Alright let's get started. Olive you're going to help me with the lights Cal you're going to set up the blanket on the ground and take the desserts out of the basket." We quickly got to work and made sure that everything was perfect along the way. We finished in record time which was a good thing since we left the house late. I texted Jared to let him know that everything was all set up. Hopefully he'll be able to see it without making Mick suspicious.

"Now what do we do?" Cal asked me.

"It's getting colder, so staying out here isn't good. We will go and sit in the car and wait until Jared gets here."

"Won't aunt Mick see that we're here if we stay?" asked Olive

"No she won't. Jared has put a blindfold on her so she can't see a thing" we only waited 30 minutes before we saw Jared's car pull up in the parking lot. He got out of the car and quickly made his way over to us.

"Thanks again I can't thank you enough"

"You're welcome the honor was all ours. You should probably get back before she starts questioning what took you so long"

"Yeah thanks again drive safe"

"Good luck" all of us yelled/whispered in unison.

"Thank you" he turned to his car and went to open Michaela's door. I put the car in drive and drove away leaving them to their privacy. I'm glad that Jared is proposing to Michaela they both deserve to be so happy.


	14. The Plan

Michaela's POV

It had been a great couple of days since Jared and I had told everyone the great news. My dad always had faith that we would get to the place we're at right now. After we told him he whispered in my ear as he hugged me. He told me that he was right in telling me to go after Jared after I came back. Now the only thing that will make this week even better would be finding out we got the house, but I know that it might take another week or more until we find out if we did or not. I always tried to visit my mom whenever I had some free time and today was one of those days. I was excited yet sad. I wouldn't be able to tell her the news in person, but I know that she's listening. I walked to her tombstone and set down the flowers that I had picked up on the way.

"Hey mom. I miss you so much, especially right now. Jared and I got engaged. I know how much you would have loved to hear that I only wish that I could have said it to you in person. You were right, back in Jamaica, I should have just said yes to jared the first time. Had I said yes things may have been different, but I guess I'll never know. I finally found my happiness and I'm getting my life back which is all I've wanted since I came back. Not everything has been perfect, but I haven't let that get in the way of the happiness that I've gotten since getting back together with Jared. I know all you wanted for me was to be happy and as much as I seemed annoyed with your constant pushing towards getting married to Jared it really did help me realize that I couldn't let my past mistakes stop me from being happy with the one person who makes me feel like I deserve to be happy and that I am worthy enough to have him in my life even though I kept telling myself otherwise. I love you so much mom and I wish you were here right now." I took one last look at my mom's tombstone and then turned around and walked back to my car. I had a few more errands to run before I went home. My last errand was a trip to the grocery store. Even though none of us really cooked much in the apartment we somehow ran out of food. I need to go pick up a few things so we wouldn't starve and I also ran out of ice cream which is really important to me right now since I've been craving it everyday. I walked into the store and started picking up the things I needed and put them in the cart. As I turned into one of the aisles I came face to face with Lourdes. I hadn't seen her since the incident and I wasn't sure if I was ready to see her yet, but it was too late as I went to turn around and walk out of the aisle she looked up and noticed me.

"Michaela" she called after me I turned around and smiled at her.

"Hey Lourdes"

"It feels like I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been?"

"I've been good just a little busy with work that's all"

"Oh, well are you busy later maybe we could have lunch or something?" I didn't know what to say. Part of me missed having her around, but the other part of me was still hurt by what she did. I know I told her I forgave her, but sometimes things aren't easy to forget. I wanted to give her a second chance.

"Sure why not"

"That's great I'm almost done here maybe we could eat somewhere right after you finish"

"Yeah I just have a few more things to pick up and then I'll be done."

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all" the only thing I had left to get is more whipped cream and more ice cream. We walked towards the refrigerator section trying to start up some small talk.

"So how's the baby?"

"She's great. She hasn't moved yet, but that's to be expected since I'm not that far along yet, but soon enough I will be able to feel her kick."

"You haven't had any problems?"

"Nope"

"That's amazing I know that this isn't a normal pregnancy so it's great to hear you haven't had any problems." We reached the whipped cream and I grabbed two big cans and then I walked to the ice cream and searched for the chocolate chip ice cream. Once I found it I opened the freezer door and grabbed four tubs. This should last me a little while so I won't have to come back and grab more. I totally forgot that Lourdes was following behind me; once I looked up she had a look of curiosity on her face.

"That's a lot of ice cream. You guys must really love it."

"That's actually just for me. Ben likes mint chocolate chip and I've kind of made sure these stay off limits to them." she was looking at me and I felt like I needed to explain so I didn't look like I was ice cream crazy. "The baby has been craving ice cream lately"

"Really how much ice cream do you eat a day?" motioning to the four tubs in the cart.

"Not much, somehow I only crave it in the middle of the night. I think Jared is hoping this craving goes away soon because I always either wake him up when I get up or I wake him up to get it for me." she gave me a small smile. I now realize that maybe I shouldn't have brought up Jared because now we're in an awkward silence, but it just slipped out. "Okay well this was the last of what I needed to get." I started walking towards the registers and paid for all my things. As I went to take my credit card out of my wallet I noticed that Lourdes was looking at my ring finger. I swiped my card and put it back in my wallet. I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible; you could cut the tension with a knife. "I need to go and drop these groceries off at home I'll text you when I'm finished and we can meet up somewhere"

"Yeah I need to head home too. I'll see you later." I gave her a quick smile and walked out of the store as fast as possible. I drove home and to my surprise Jared and Ben were both home too. I took out my phone and called Jared. It rang once and then he picked up.

"Hey what's up?"

"I'm downstairs and I went to the store to get groceries. I might need help getting all of this upstairs can you and Ben come down?"

"Yeah we'll be right there" I waited a few minutes sitting on the edge of the trunk. I saw the elevator door open. They each grabbed the heavier bags and left me with the lighter ones, typical.

"You guys do know I'm not fragile right, just pregnant. I can handle carrying a few heavy bags"

"Trust me Mick we know that, but we're still going to continue taking care of you anyways, right Jared?"

"That's right" I hit them both lightly on the back of their heads.

"I'm not a damsel in distress I can take care of myself." I told them laughing a little. We got the bags upstairs and started putting everything away. Jared and Ben were in the middle of their small talk when I spoke up.

"I saw Lourdes today." They both stopped talking and looked at me patiently waiting for me to continue talking. " While I was at the grocery store I ran into her in one of the aisles"

"Did you guys talk?" Ben asked me

"Yeah we did, but it was awkward. It honestly felt a little forced. She asked me to eat lunch with her today."

"Are you going to go?" Jared asked

"Yeah I am. Lets just hope it won't be as awkward." He gave me a look and I knew what he wanted to know. "Yeah I think she saw it. I was trying to take out my card to pay and I looked up and saw her looking at it. Which is why I practically ran out of there; it got even more awkward than it already was" He gave me a small comforting smile. "I should probably text her to see where we're going" I quickly texted her and turned to Ben. "Are there any leads on who the mole is?"

"No we still don't have anything."

"Maybe we should plant false information with each passenger. We'll tell each one something different. The person who is talking to the major is going to tell her and then we'll know who it is; depending on what we hear back or how she retaliates with that information we can find out who the mole is."

"That's a good idea and I think it could work. We just need to come up with false information and we're in business" My phone rang at first I thought it was just a text until it started ringing again. I looked at my screen and answered the phone.

"Hey Lourdes"

"Hey so I just finished here. Did you have any place in mind that you wanted to go?"

"No, none at all I'm fine going where ever you want"

"Okay well I know this little cafe that we can go to"

"That sounds great. Send me the address and I'll head right over"

"Okay I'll see you there" she hung up the phone; a minute later my phone rang again, just with a text message this time.

"I should probably head out let me know what you come up with."

"I will goodluck"

"Thanks" I motioned for Jared to follow me to the door.

"If I text you help. Call me and pull me out of there a soon as possible"

"Do you think it will got that badly?"

"No, well I don't know it was really awkward between us earlier, so please do me that favor"

"Don't worry I will." I kissed him and then reluctantly pulled away a minute later.

"I love you"

"I love you too. Goodluck."

"Thanks hopefully this won't end badly"

"Don't worry it won't. You should probably go your kind of stalling now."

"Yeah I'll see you later" He gave me one last quick kiss and closed the door. Lourdes was waiting for me outside the cafe when I got there.

"Hey sorry I'm a little late there was an accident on my way here and there was traffic everywhere."

"Don't worry about it haven't been waiting here long."

"Good let's head inside" we walked in and thankfully it didn't seem very busy today. I've been here before and I know that it can get pretty busy.

"So you and Jared are engaged now?" she asked after we ordered our food. She got straight to the point which I didn't think she would do.

"Yeah we are"

"Well I guess congratulations are in order. I'm happy for you guys I mean it. I know that my actions recently haven't looked as if I am, but I promise I'm telling the truth." Something about the way she said that made me believe her.

"I believe you and thank you"

"Your welcome. So have you guys made any plans on when you're getting married?"

"Yeah we decided that we were going to wait until after Evie is born that way she can be a part of the ceremony."

"That's adorable. Are you excited to have your daughter?"

"Yeah I am, we both are. I keep saying that I'm ready to go through labor, but Grace has been telling me stories and I'm not so sure anymore."

"You'll do great you're a strong person I know that you'll be able to push through the pain until you get to the hospital"

"Thanks"

"Are you planning on having a baby shower?"

"I don't know yet actually. When I went to visit grace the other day we were talking about it, but I never made a decision on whether or not I was throwing one. I still have a lot of time before i have to make a decision. Enough talk about me how have things been going with you?''

"Everything is great. I've been keeping myself busy with work, so I haven't really done much lately" she gave me the look that signaled for us to talk about something else.

"I went to see my mom today"

"Really?"

"Yeah I've been visiting whenever I have free time"

"You must really be missing her right now?"

"Yeah I am. I wish she was here to give me advice she was always good at that."

"Yeah she was. Do you remember how many times me, you and Evie got lectured by her, everytime we did something wrong?"

"We got lectured so many times we never knew how to stay out of trouble" I said laughing.

"We really didn't; ever since we were in middle school we would always find a way to get into trouble"

"Yeah we did, but you have to admit Evie was the most rebellious out of the three of us"

"Oh trust me I don't disagree. The majority of the times we got in trouble were because of her, but I wouldn't change anything for the world"

"Neither would I. She was a free spirit and it rubbed off a little on the both of us."

"Yeah it did. The memories, it makes me want to go back to a time that was much easier."

"Tell me about it. We had so much fun back then we were so carefree."

"Do you remember when Evie got us to sneak out of the house for the first time?"

"How can I forget, all of us got in trouble by our parents when we tried to sneak back into my house."

"If only you hadn't tripped trying to get in through the window"

"That night might have actually been a success"

"Yeah I remember having a bruise on my leg for a week after that. You fell on the both of us pretty hard"

"I still don't know how my foot got stuck on that windowsill"

"We were grounded for weeks after that"

"The most boring weeks of my life. How about when she got us lost in a sketchy part of the city?"

"I remember that. I'm grateful we didn't encounter any creeps that night"

"We were already scared as it was, imagine if we actually saw someone or something. We would have passed out from fear on the spot."

"Evie was a brave person more than we were at the time"

"Yeah she was" We spent the rest of lunch reminiscing over the past. By the time we had to head home I didn't want it to end. On my drive home I was pleasantly surprised that we got past the awkwardness and actually enjoyed each other's company. That was something I didn't think we would be able to achieve when I first arrived at the cafe. We left with a promise that we would do it again when we had free time. I opened the door to the apartment and was met with darkness. I always hated that the sun went down earlier in the winter; it always made the days shorter. I saw that the tv was on in the living room. I thought that whoever was watching was awake to my surprise I found Ben sleeping on the couch. I silently walked to my bedroom only to find the same situation. Jared was fast asleep on our bed. I debated on whether to wake him up and let him know I'm here or to let him sleep. In the end I decided to let him sleep. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and a spoon I took out the ice cream that I bought today and put some in the bowl. I ate my ice cream while I went on my phone. Fifteen minutes later I finally finished and I put my cleaned bowl in the cabinet. I went back into my bedroom Jared was still sleeping. I sat down in front of him and just looked at how peaceful he looks. I reached over to gently touch his hair. After a few minutes he started to stir and his eyes opened.

"Hey did you just get home?"

"No I got home twenty minutes ago"

"Oh okay"

"You looked so peaceful I didn't want to disturb your sleep"

"How was it?"

"Better than I expected actually"

"How so?"

"Well we actually got passed the awkward silence and actually talked to each other without it feeling like it was forced"

"Really?"

"Yeah she surprised me though. The first thing she brought up after we sat down and ordered was our engagement. She said she's happy for us and she congratulated us."

"That was thoughtful"

"Yeah it was. We talked about her life for a little bit, but it looked like she didn't want to talk about herself so we changed the subject to my mother and how we used to get in trouble a lot back in the day"

"It sounds like you enjoyed yourself?"

"Yeah I did by the end I didn't want to go home. I wanted to stay there and keep talking"

"See I told you it was going to be fine"

"I know" our heads turned when we heard a noise coming from the kitchen. "I guess Ben woke up too. Come on lets see how he's doing with the plan." We walked out of the room and went to the kitchen. He was trying to clean up the mess he made when he dropped his bowl of cereal.

"Looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up" I joked around Jared was laughing behind me and so was Ben.

"Usually it's hard for me to fall asleep on the couch, but I must have been really tired today." He threw out the paper towels he used to clean up the mess and refilled the bowl with more cereal.

"How's the plan going?"

"Great actually. I created false information for every passenger now we only have to give it to them."

"What are some that you came up with?"

"For Autumn we're going to mention that we finally figured out a way to jog the memories of all the passengers that woke up already. We're going to say that we'll use that to find out what happened with each and everyone of them. The major wont like that, especially because these passengers were listening to everything their kidnappers said. She won't be happy if information about her operation gets out. She'll try and do something to stop us. With Paul we're going to tell him that our connection has gotten stronger with each other. If he's the mole she'll find out and will stop at nothing to find us which means we'll have to move to a different location to keep the passengers safe."

"That's good"

"If it weren't for your idea we wouldn't have a well thought out plan right now. Hopefully this works and we'll be able to tell who the mole is."

"What happens once we have the person's identity?"

"That I haven't thought of yet"

"You could question them. See how much they know about the major hopefully that will give you guys an edge over the major." Jared's idea was good let's hope the mole is easy to trick into talking.

"You have a good point jared. Ok now we have a plan to find out who the mole is and what to do after we find out. Now the only thing we have to do is get it done." Ben said. The next day we went to the beach house after work and got our plan started we made sure to release the information to each passenger while they were alone and while they were close by us; close enough to listen in on our conversation. Once we were away from everyone I finally spoke.

"And now we wait." we all looked at each other with nervous expressions.


	15. Day Out

It had been a few days since we put our plan into play and we still have no identity. Ben is starting to get worried; with every second that we don't find out he becomes even more worried about Cal's safety. Whoever the mole is has either not told the major yet or she simply doesn't care about what she's been told. Each passenger, if you look close enough, looks suspicious. Some have backgrounds, from before the plane disappeared, that don't paint them in a pretty picture; Paul Santino he abused his wife before he disappeared or Autumn who always seems to be around listening whenever Ben, Saanvi, Fiona and I are talking about something important. I guess we'll just have to keep waiting, but hopefully not for much longer. Saanvi is working day and night trying to figure out what was the cause for some of the passengers to wake up from the state they were in. So far she doesn't have any answers. Paul Santino woke up after I touched him which was a coincidence, but we think that they wake up when they are called. It's all very confusing since we still don't know much about our callings and why certain people get specific callings. Everything is a little stressful right now which is the reason why I'm excited to spend some quality time with Olive. It will hopefully get my mind off of everything. I arrived at the house and honked the horn. She came out pretty quickly right after; she was probably waiting by the door.

"Hey" I greeted her when she hopped in the car.

"Hi aunt Mick. So what's the plan for today?"

"Well I thought we could start off by getting something to eat and then maybe you would be interested in doing some baby shopping with me. I wanted to give Jared a break from it. I know that he doesn't mind doing it, but it's a lot of girly things that need to be bought and I didnt want to make him go through hours of shopping." She jumped a little with excitement at the mention of baby shopping.

"I would love to go baby shopping. This is going to be so much fun. Talking about the baby, how are you both doing?"

"We're doing great I'm just waiting for her to make her presence known. If she gave me even the slightest movement it would make me so happy. Do you want to eat pizza for lunch?"

"Yeah I'll eat pizza. I heard that when you're pregnant you can sometimes get false cramps that feel like your going into labor I think they're called braxton hicks. Have you had that at all?"

"No I think that may be when I get closer to my due date. I can only hope that I don't go through that but I know it's a normal thing that happens."

"On another note when are you going to walk down the aisle?"

"That is a question that you and I both dont know the answer to."

"So you guys haven't talked about a possible date?"

"No not necessarily. We know that we want to wait until after Evie is born, but we don't know how long we're going to wait after her birth to have our wedding."

"Do you know what you want to wear? The classic white dress or maybe an off-white or even a different color?"

"I want to wear either white or an off-white. I haven't decided yet but I like both colors."

"How about a style?"

"I always liked the sweetheart cut dresses. An off the shoulder strapless dress is also a good option with the sweetheart cut neckline."

"That sounds so pretty. Your going to look so beautiful and stunning on your wedding day that you might bring Jared to tears."

"That's the plan."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah sure."

"I know that you and Lourdes are bestfriends and I also overheard you talking to my mom about what she did, I'm sorry about eavesdropping by the way, but are you going to have her be a part of the bridal party or even invite her to the wedding?"

"I don't know yet. We actually went out to lunch a few days ago and after we got through the initial awkwardness and tension we had a great time. It just goes to show that our friendship can be fixed: it won't be the same as it used to be, but it is possible. We both have made mistakes that have jeopardized our friendship, but we got through it. Alright we're here let's go inside." We walked inside and got our food we sat down at a table and ate our food we continued our conversation from the car as we ate.

"Do you have an idea who your bridesmaids are going to be?" looking at my with a hopeful look.

"I know what you're trying to ask and yes you're going to be a bridesmaid you're my niece why wouldn't I have you involved in the wedding"

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"Thank you aunt Mick."

"Alright give it to me, what ideas do you have for bridesmaid dresses?"

"What do you think about a pale pink color? Maybe halter style dress? I don't know those are just some ideas"

"No I like them actually. Usually I'm not a big fan of the color pink, but I actually like the idea of a pale pink. The halter style would be cute too. If you think of anything else let me know. I'm not the best when it comes to picking out dresses. We all know that I practically wear jeans on a daily basis."

"Okay I'll make sure to tell you when I think of more ideas."

"Alright I'm done eating, how about you?"

"I'm so full. I'm ready to go if you are"

"Let the baby shopping commence." We walked back to the car and headed to the first store. We decided to start with Walmart. I grabbed a cart and followed Olive to the baby section. Jared and I had taken care of the furniture but we hadn't bought much in the baby necessities department.

"What do you need to get?"

"Pretty much everything. We already bought a few things, but they're not much."

"Baby bottles?" she said pointing to them on the shelf

"Yeah we're going to need a lot of those."

"Is two packs good enough?"

"How many come in the pack?"

"It says five bottles"

"Yeah that should be good"

"I'll be right back" I watched her walk away and then I turned and looked at all the pacifiers. I put a few in the cart and started walking further into the aisle. I saw the cutest little gloves hanging on one of the hooks it was in a four pack I grabbed those too and put them in the cart. It astonishes me how little Evie will be. The gloves looked so tiny in my hands. Olive came back holding a few things.

"What's that?"

"This is a baby bottle sterilizer it will help you make sure the bottles are one hundred percent clean." She put it in the cart and moved on to the next thing. "This is a baby monitor. I wasn't sure which one you would want so I brought you both. This one is your classic baby monitor, but this other one actually shows you your baby on your phone. Through an app you can connect to the camera and see how the baby is doing. Of course the second one is more expensive, but they're both just as good. Which one do you want to take?"

"The one with the camera. That will be extremely useful when she's a toddler." Olive put back the first monitor and put the second one in the cart with the rest of the items that were starting to pile up. We continued to walk through the baby section and grab more things.

"Okay I think that maybe that's enough for this store."

"Yeah I agree." We had bags upon bags of baby necessities. We loaded them up in the car and drove to the next place. Since I wasn't sure if I was throwing a baby shower yet I wanted to make sure my baby had clothes if I decided not to do it. We drove to carters and were overwhelmed by the amount of baby clothes in one place. We split up and looked for every type of outfits. Dresses, onesies, shirts, leggings, bodysuits, jackets, socks and even shoes.

"What do you think about this outfit?" Olive walked over to show me what she had. She was holding a grey long sleeve shirt/sweater with white leggings and a grey headband.

"That is adorable"

"I'm glad you like it." We kept shopping for clothes until we had what we needed. We drove around for the rest of the afternoon getting more things like diapers and baby wipes which we forgot to get while we were at Walmart. We had the best time; I'm really happy that I was able to take my mind off of our situation even if it was just for a little while. Since she didn't want to go home just yet we went back to the apartment and struggled to take everything upstairs. It took us three trips downstairs to the car.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I asked her once we were done.

"Can I have water please?"

"Yeah" I went into one of the cabinets and grabbed a water bottle. "Catch" I warned her since she was on her phone. Once she looked up I threw it to her.

"Thanks"

"What do you want to do?"

"We can watch a movie"

"Okay anything good on netflix?"

"I don't know let's look" we searched through netflix trying to find a movie that we both liked. We ate snacks as we watched the movie we decided to watch, Titanic. Titanic has always been one of our favorite movies to watch together and since we haven't really seen each other much these days it's a perfect time to watch it. We were fine throughout the entire movie until we got to the end. I'm not usually one to cry during a movie, but my pregnancy hormones really betrayed me today and of course while we're in the middle of our cry fest both Ben and Jared walk into the apartment.

"Are you guys crying?" they both asked in unison. We both looked at each other and replied in unison.

"No" Olive decided to say more that really didn't help our case.

"We had something in our eye"

"The both of you" replied Ben

"Yeah the both of us" both Ben and Jared laughed at us. Olive and I decided to grab the pillows we had on the couch and throw it at them.

"Hey no need for violence" Jared said. Olive and I turned back to the tv and finished watching the movie.

"Hey dad do you mind taking me home. Aunt mick and I had a long day and I could really use a nap."

"Yeah sure let me just get my jacket and keys" he came back a minute later "okay all set" I got up to give Olive a hug.

"Thanks for today I had a lot of fun. We can't go long without doing this again so call me soon"

"I will. Tell your mom and Cal I say hi"

"Will do. Bye"

"Bye" I went back to sitting on the couch with Jared.

"You're really cute when you cry by the way"

"These hormones have made me so emotional lately. I hope you enjoyed that while you had it because I will never cry for a movie again."

"I did enjoy that actually. I know that you never cry for a movie"

"Like I said the hormones had a play in that this time. Do you want to take a walk?"

"Isn't it a little cold out for a walk?"

"That's what jackets are for."

"Okay let's take a walk" I got up and started getting ready. He was right it was a little cold out, but I didn't feel like being stuck at home, so I'll just dress warm and hope for the best. We held hands as we walked around.

"Do you remember when we first met?" Jared asked me

"Of course I do"

"I liked you, but you weren't interested at all."

"In my defense I wasn't looking for a boyfriend at the time, plus we became friends instead which to me was much better"

"I may not have gained a girlfriend back then, but I did gain a best friend."

"A best friend that later turned into your girlfriend. Once I got to know you I realized that I needed to have you in my life not just as a friend, but as something more. You made me feel whole."

"It took me a while to convince you to go on a date with me."

"I know, but I eventually did agree and it was the best decision of my life."

"I find it hard to believe that you didn't like me way before our first date."

"And what makes you think that?"

"You got jealous sometimes."

"And when was that may I ask?"

"Do you remember Brooke Anderson?"

"How can I forget."

"I was dating her for a month tops and you would always hate it when I talked about her or when she hung out with us. When I told you we were dating you got mad at me and didn't speak to me for a few days"

"I was not jealous"

"Yes you were just admit it" This was a battle I wasn't going to win, so I gave in.

"Alright fine I was. That was around the time I started to have feelings for you. I thought that you didn't like me anymore, but oh how wrong was I because here we are engaged and about to have our first child."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way"

"Though I still don't get why you went out with her. She was a bitch."

"She liked me and since you didn't want to go out with me I gave her a shot. That and I wanted to see if you got jealous."

"Typical"

"What can I say I took matters into my own hands. You weren't letting on that you had feelings for me so I did something that might have caused you to show how you truly felt and it worked."

"That time and one other time were the only instances of jealousy that I've ever had in my life."

"What was the other time?"

"I put my foot in it didn't I?"

"Yeah you did."

"It was recent actually. I was jealous of your relationship with Lourdes. I mean she always used to tell me that I was lucky to have you. Fast forward five and half years I find out that the both of you are married to each other after I decided that I was going to marry you. She got to live the life that I wanted to live, but couldn't anymore."

"Well you have nothing to be jealous about because you're getting to live that life right now."

"It hasn't been easy getting to this point in our lives, but we got here and that's what's important."

"Any other memories we want to relive?"

"Actually yes. Do you remember the time you almost got caught sneaking into my house?"

"How could I forget. I spent some quality time with your closet that night."

"It's not my fault you couldn't keep quiet."

"Last time I checked the reason your parents kept checking on you was because you were being too loud."

"And how may I ask was I being the loud one?"

"You were laughing so hard you fell off your bed."

"That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't made me laugh."

"Why was I sneaking into your house again?"

"We had a date, but I got grounded because me, evie and Lourdes got into trouble again."

"That's right and it was your genius idea to sneak me into your room while your parents were down the hall."

"Hey I still wanted to see you even though I couldn't go on the date. I didn't think that I was going to end up sticking you in my closet. Good thing it was big."

"But if I remember correctly we did caught that night."

"We did?"

"Yeah Ben walked in without knocking and found me in your room."

"I totally forgot about that part."

"I'm surprised he didn't rat us out. I know that Ben was a strict rule follower back then."

"He didn't say anything because he owed me a favor."

"Ben owed you a favor?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes actually it is. Like you said earlier you were always the one to get in trouble. How did he end up owing you a favor?"

"I helped him when he snuck out of the house for the first time."

"Ben snuck out of the house?"

"Hard to believe I know, but yes. I didn't even know he left that night since he was always locked in his room doing homework. I honestly thought that's what he was doing. Turns out one of his friends convinced him to have some fun. He snuck out to go to a party and when he tried to get back in well that's where it got interesting. Do you remember the deck we had in our backyard and how you used the roof of the deck to get into my room?"

"Yeah"

"Well it was easy for him to get down it, but not easy enough for him to get back up since he didn't have much arm strength. He threw rocks at my window until it got my attention. I had to distract our parents, who were watching tv in the living room, long enough for him to sneak in quietly through the front door. He made it in and from that day on he owed me a favor which I cashed in when he caught us in my room."

"Who would have thought Ben was a little rebellious back then."

"Yeah I know. We should get back it's getting a little cold now and I'm wearing 5 layers of clothes so that's really saying something." We walked back home and made dinner. After dinner we sat on the couch and watched tv. I got a call from Ben I picked it up thinking he was just going to ask if we were home since I texted him telling him we were out.

"Hey what's up?"

"Get Jared and head to the beach house right now." he sounded angry.

"Why what's wrong?" In that moment I put the phone on speaker so that Jared could hear too.

"We have our mole."

"Who is it?" Jared asked

"Autumn."

"Okay we're going to leave right now we'll see you in a little bit." Ben hung up the phone and we grabbed our coats and headed to the beach house. We made it there much faster than usual and went inside the house. Saanvi, Ben and Fiona were talking amongst themselves by the staircase.

"How did you find out it was Autumn?"

"You know how we've been checking up on all the passengers who woke up?" Ben said

"Yeah."

"Well one of the passengers left. After we found out where his family lived he decided he wanted to go and be with them. We gave him a phone with our numbers so that we could check up on him. When I went to call it wasn't him who picked up, it was one of his family members. I told the person on the phone that I was a friend of his checking up on how he was doing and then she told me that he had been killed. This happened in front of his home. There was one witness and the person said they heard the killer say something along the lines of keeping quiet and not saying anything."

"Do we know anymore?"

"No. I was going to see if you guys could do some digging when I remembered that he was in a different state where you have no jurisdiction."

"Where is Autumn now?"

"She dropped by earlier, but I think she said she was going back to her apartment right after." Saanvi said.

"Okay so now what do we do?"

"We go to her apartment and confront her about it" Ben said

"Do you know where she lives?" asked Fiona to no one in particular.

"I do" Saanvi said. "She gave me the address just in case I needed to find her."

"Okay let's go" I said. We all drove over in Ben's car and talked about what we were going to say to her. We got to her apartment and Ben knocked on her door. The moment she opened it she had a look surprise and fear.

"What's going on?" she asked. Ben responded to her question with a hint of anger.

"We need to talk."


	16. A Friend or Foe

"What's going on?" she asked

"Don't try and act all innocent. You know why we're here" Ben said. She remained silent, so Ben kept talking. "We know that you're the mole and that you've been telling the major all about us this entire time."

"How did you find out?" She asked.

"The information we told you about being able to get the passengers remember what happened to them while they were detained was a trap and you fell right into it. We had a feeling that one of the passengers was talking to the Major we just didn't know who, until now."

"You don't understand I didn't have a choice."

"Yes you did. Everyone has a choice, you could have chosen not to spy on us even though the Major was pressuring you to. A passenger was killed because of your actions."

"What are you talking about?"

"We found out tonight that one of the passengers was killed in front of his home. The killer was talking about keeping quiet and not say anything according to the only witness. You're the only person with information that could have gotten someone killed. We knew that if you told the Major that we knew how to jog the memories of all the passengers then she would try to make sure we didn't find out anything about her operation and that's exactly what she did. She couldn't find the other passengers except for Matthew Campbell, since he's the only one not living at the beach house aside from you ofc course."

"I honestly didn't mean for someone to get hurt you have to believe me. I only did what she told me to do because she didn't give me another choice. I tried not to tell her anything, but she found me. If I even shut off the phone I was given she would send someone to find me and threaten me."

"Does she know where the rest of the passengers are?"

"No she doesn't. I haven't told her, but she has people following me which means she can get people to follow you. It's the reason why I've stayed away from the beach house I don't want her to find it."

"How could you do this to us?" I asked her "We trusted you and you betrayed us."

"She's holding something over me."

"What, you're warrants? Did you really spy on us because of the warrants under your name? Do you really think you trust her enough not to throw you in jail after your job with her is done?"

"It's not about the warrants. It's something else and no I don't trust her at all, but like I said I have no choice."

"Yes you do it's not too late to stop this. Just tell us what she is holding against you."

"I can't do that."

"Autumn you can trust us. We can help you just tell us what it is."

"My daughter. She has information on where I can find my daughter. She told me that if I helped her she would help me. If I turn on her she'll take my chance at seeing my daughter away from me and I can't have that happen."

"Autumn, Jared and I are detectives we can find out where your daughter is too, but on one condition. You tell us everything you know about the major and everything you've told her."

"Okay I'll tell you everything I know, but you promise you'll help me find my daughter?"

"Yes, we'll help you find her I promise." We spent the next two hours listening to what she had to say. We learned close to nothing about the Major since Autumn only got in contact with her on the phone. On the drive back to the beach house we were all silent I was the first to break that silence.

"So what do we do now?"

"We make sure that whatever is said between us stays between us. We can't risk having the passengers know important information, just in case there's another spy."

"Okay" We all said in unison. I yawned and tried to cover it by covering my mouth with my hand.

"Are you tired?" Jared asked me

"Yeah just a little."

"Alright let's go home then."

"Okay." Since there was nothing left to be done there wasn't any point in staying instead of going home.

"I'm going to look into Autumn's daughter tomorrow I'll let you know what I find." I said before leaving. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the ride home. I woke up to Jared carrying me up to the apartment. He put me down on our bed, took off my shoes and put the blanket over me. I immediately fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

The next morning…

"What's that smell my mouth is watering?" I walked into the kitchen Jared was making breakfast.

"Pancakes and eggs"

"I could eat a horse right now. I'm so hungry."

"I knew you would be, so I made a few extra pancakes." I ended up eating 3 pancakes and a plate of eggs.

"Are you ready to go to work?" Jared asked.

"Yeah I'm ready let me just grab my jacket and keys." At work I went straight to my desk. I needed to look into Autumn's daughter and hopefully that will give her some peace of mind. I understand why she did it and I know Ben does too. I would do anything to know that my daughter is okay even if it meant doing something I'm against. My kid will always come first. Which is why I want to help her. If I were in her situation I would hope that someone would do the same for me. I spent most of my afternoon investigating the whereabouts of her daughter.

"Did you find anything?" I looked up from my computer to see Jared walking towards me.

"Yeah I did. Autumn had lost custody to her daughter before the plane disappeared. She was put in jail back in 2011 and her daughter was put into the system. A while back Autumn asked me to look into a women named Clarissa Ford. She told me that if I found her then her name would be cleared. It turns out that Clarissa Ford was her daughter's foster mom."

"Is Autumn's daughter still with her?"

"No she was adopted 4 years ago. I have the name of her adoptive family and their address. Hopefully with this information she won't have to do any favors for the Major anymore."

"Hopefully?"

"Yeah. I can't trust her anymore, so I can't help, but assume that this wasn't the only reason why she agreed to spy on us, which is why I'm hoping that I'm wrong."

"Okay I'm going to get back to my case if I don't I might not be leaving here tonight."

"What are you working on?"

"A homicide."

"If you want help I'm all free. I think I've exhausted the investigation on Autumn's daughter. I don't think there is anything different I'll be able to find, so I'm free to help."

"Okay I could use an extra pair of hands." We went over the case and spent the rest of our day engulfed in cracking this homicide. We went home later that day and kept working on our case. One thing I really loved about working with Jared and going home with him was that we could continue working on our cases even after we left the precinct we got the job done faster that way. We have always been great partners it made working together a lot more enjoyable. Out of nowhere I got a calling I heard someone say "find her"; I saw an image of a person's hand touching the snow covered ground. It was snowing out and that was all I saw.

"Are you okay?" Jared sounded concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine." Even though I really was fine I didn't sound so convincing.

"Did you just have a calling?"

"I think so, but it was really different this time."

"How?"

"Usually when I have a calling it's my voice that I hear, but this time it wasn't my voice, it was someone else's. I think it was a man's voice I'm not sure. The voice told me to find her."

"Did it say anything else?"

"No just that."

"Do you have any idea what it means?"

"No, no clue at all." My phone rang and I saw Ben's name on the screen I put it on speaker and then spoke.

"Ben I was just about to call you."

"Cal is missing."

"What do you mean he's missing?"

"Grace went to check on him; his bedroom window was open and he was nowhere to be found."

"Do you think the Major has him?"

"I don't know what to think and to make matters worse Grace called the police and now the house is swarmed with police officers."

"Okay I'm on my way I have a plan." I hung up the phone and grabbed my jacket and car keys. "I need you to stay here for now. The only way that we'll be able to get rid of the cops is if you come to the house saying that you saw Cal with my dad."

"They are going to want evidence. What am I supposed to do when they ask for it?"

"I'll send you a picture of the both of them and all you have to do is say that you took the photo today."

"Okay."

"I'll see you soon." I gave him a quick kiss and left. The minute I turned onto Ben and Grace's street I saw cop cars parked alongside the entirety of the street. I parked my car and got out. A cop tried to stop me from stepping foot on the property, but I showed him my badge and told him that I was their family. I found Ben and Grace talking to a detective and Olive standing in a corner with tears in her eyes.

"Hey how are you feeling?"

"It feels like this is happening again."

"What is?"

"The feeling I felt when you guys disappeared on that plane."

"We'll find him I promise you that." I gave her a hug and saw Ben signal to me to go upstairs with him and Grace. I gave Olive a final squeeze and followed them upstairs.

"We need to get rid of the cops." Ben said

"What do you mean we should get rid of them? Our son is missing we shouldn't be up here talking to each other we should be downstairs talking to the detective in charge."

"No we shouldn't. We can't have the major know that Cal is missing and that's assuming that she doesn't have him."

"What are you talking about? Who's the Major?"

"Okay do you remember when I tried to tell you that some people on the plane including me and Michaela came back different, well Cal is different too, but in a special way."

"Are you saying that Cal gets callings too?"

"Yes, but he gets them in a different way. Cal knows things that he shouldn't know. He'll see things that will happen in the future and he draws them." Grace looked shocked and stunned "That's it." Ben left the room and went into Cal's. We watched him search for something in the room. He grabbed Cal's backpack and opened it up. He took out Cal's sketch book. "See he drew a passenger that he never met and knew where he was hiding out and he also knew his name." He turned the page and his face fell. Grace and I moved closer to Ben to see what he was looking at.

"Is that?" Grace started, but Ben finished for her.

"Us." There was a picture of the three of us in this exact moment. Ben continued to flip through the pages. There were more drawings; the drawings were mostly about nature, but there were a few that were clearly places in some town.

"He left us a map to find him, but there's a page missing."

"I think I know who may have it." I said

"Who?" Ben asked

"Autumn. She came over the apartment last week while I was taking care of Cal she must have seen his drawings and took the missing page. She's the only one other then us who have been around him when he's drawn in his book. She has to have it. Good thing I haven't given her the file on her daughter yet I'll use it to get the page back."

"Okay" Ben responded.

"I've seen that church before last summer I went to Tannersville and I saw a church that looks like that."

"Okay I guess we're heading to Tannersville."

"And I'll get you that missing page." I said.

"Wait, how are we going to get rid of the cops?"

"Leave that up to me let me go make a call." I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and dialed Jared's number.

"Hey" he said.

"Hey I need you to head over right now. Do you remember what you have to say?"

"Yes."

"Okay perfect I'll see you in a little bit." I hung up the phone and went back into the room where Ben and Grace were.

"Okay I have everything covered."

"Who did you call?" asked Grace.

"Jared. Ben called me earlier and told me that there were cops everywhere so I came up with a plan to handle that situation. Jared is going to come into the house saying that he found Cal with my dad. I gave him an old picture of the both of them and he's going to make it look like the picture was taken today. Since he's a detective they wont suspect that he's lying. It should get rid of everybody."

"Okay." She sounded more reassured that we can pull this off. We went back downstairs and waited for Jared to arrive. Once he arrived my plan was put into action and it worked just like I knew it would.

"Okay we're going to head out to Tannersville and see what we can find."

"Borrow someone's car don't use your own. The minute you pass a toll with your car the Major will know about it." I said as I grabbed my jacket.

"Okay we'll call you when we get there."

"Okay." Jared and I left the house and went to our cars.

"Are you going to go to Autumn's apartment right now?"

"No it's late, so I'll go to her tomorrow morning."

"Don't leave without me I'm going to come with you."

"Okay I'll see you at home." We kissed and got into our respective cars. The drive home was silent. I didn't want to turn on the radio. I'm really hoping that Cal is safe and not in the hands of the Major. I can't imagine what he's going through if he is in their hands. The passengers that she took were put under extreme experimentation and I don't want him to go through the same thing, especially because he's different than the rest of us. I broke my train of thoughts when I looked at my rear view mirror and noticed that Jared was following behind me. I looked back to the road and smiled. I found it adorable how much he worries and cares about me. He'll always make sure I'm safe and okay and I'll forever be thankful for that. I parked my car and waited for Jared to do the same.

"I saw you back there, making sure I made it home safe."

"You know me that's nothing new." he said laughing. He put his arm around my shoulders and we walked upstairs to our apartment. When we were in bed a thought popped in my mind.

"I think we're going to be living here alone soon, just the two of us."

"Why?"

"Ben told Grace about Cal getting the callings and I think she's more understanding about what is going on with all of us."

"You think they'll get back together?"

"Yeah I think so. Who knows maybe when they get back with Cal they'll be back together. All I want for my brother is for him to be as happy as I am. He's gone through so much with the plane, Cal's illness, the callings he deserves to be happy. Sometimes I feel like he never gets a break. Anytime he starts to feel happy something else is thrown his way."

"Yeah I get what you mean."

"Alright let's get some sleep we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too."

The next day….

I parked the car outside of Autumn's apartment. Jared knocked on her door and we waited for her to open it.

"Michaela, what can I help you with?"

"Last night Cal went missing. We found his drawings that could tell us his possible location, but there's one page missing. The only other person who's seen his drawings is you. Did you take one of Cal's drawings?"

"Yes I did. I'm sorry."

"Did you show it to the Major?"

"No I didn't I promise. My reasoning for taking his drawing wasn't to tell the Major where he was going."

"I have your daughter's file with me right now. I'll give you the file if you give me the drawing."

"Okay let me just go and get it." My phone rang in my pocket and I picked it up.

"Hello"

"Hey Mick."

"Ben, have you found him?"

"No, but we did find people working for the Major. We're currently being followed by them."

"Okay hold on I can fix that. Let me call you back in a little bit." I hung up the phone and turned to Autumn. "I need you to do me a favor. The Major doesn't have Cal, but they're currently looking for him. Two of the Major's men are following Ben and Grace and I need you to get in contact with her and get her to call her men to go somewhere else."

"If I lie to her she's going to find me and kill me. I can't do that."

"Yes you can. She'll never find you if you leave immediately. You'll have your daughter's location; go to her. Make sure to use cash only don't leave a paper trail. She'll never find you that way."

"Okay I'll help you." I told Autumn what to say and we watched her make the call. I tried to hear the conversation and see if I knew who was on the other end, but the voice was unrecognizable.

"Okay it's done. I'll go and get you the drawing." she came back a few minutes later with a piece of paper in her hand.

"Here's the file with the address of your daughter's current home and the family's name. Any other information you need will also be in there." I handed her the file and watched her open it up. "I believe you have something for me too."

"I only took the drawing because Cal drew my daughter. I had never told anyone about her, so it scared me that he knew about her. I'm sorry that I caused so much trouble." She said as she handed me the drawing.

"Good luck with everything."

"Thanks you too." We left her apartment and stood right outside her door. I turned the drawing around and looked at the picture.

"We have the key to finding Cal." I looked at Jared and started walking out to the street. I called Ben and sent him and Grace the picture.

"Hey did you get the picture?"

"Yeah we did."

"Do you know where that might be?"

"No, I have no idea."

"Wait what is that in the upper right hand corner?" I heard Grace ask Ben.

"It looks like a cell tower." I said

"I saw one of those. We passed it when we were trying to get rid of the Major's people."

"Do you know where you saw it?" Ben asked her

"Yeah I remember where."

"Okay we're going to head over."

"If you find the cabin don't go inside wait for me to get there."

"Okay I'll call you when we find it." Ben hung up the phone and I decided to have Jared stay behind even though I know he's going to fight me on it.

"Hey I need you to stay at the precinct."

"What?"

"Just in case I need you to look something up or coordinate."

"You said it yourself the Major's men are up there looking for Cal it's too dangerous I'm coming with you."

I was about to respond when I got another calling. It was snowing everywhere, but it wasn't like the last time, when I was taken somewhere else. This time I was still standing in the same spot just with with snow falling out of the sky.

"Hey are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Did you just have a calling?"

"I'm not sure, but listen I have this feeling that I need to go up there alone. Can you please just stay here?"

"Okay, but you call me if you need anything okay."

"Okay I love you and I'm sorry, but I have to do this alone." He closed the gap between us and kissed me after a minute or so he pulled back.

"I love you too." He gave me one last quick kiss and turned around and started walking away. I felt so bad that I was doing this to him. I know how much it means to him to keep me safe and im putting him in a situation where he won't be there to protect me if something goes wrong. As I got in the car I just hoped that nothing would go wrong. The drive up to the cabin in Tannersville took longer than I expected I had to take the scenic route that way the Major wouldn't find me and have me followed. Once I finally got there I knocked on the door and Ben let me in.

"How's Cal doing?"

"He's fine just a little cold, but other then that he's totally okay."

"How did he even get here?"

"The same way he found us in Red Hook."

"Where is he now?"

"He's sleeping in one of the rooms."

"Why did he come up here?"

"Why don't you take a look for yourself." He pointed at something behind me. I turned around and saw a man on the couch unconscious. "Cal got a calling to come up here and wait for him. The minute he barged into the cabin he passed out. He's been out ever since. I called Saanvi and she told me he was hypothermic so we've been keeping him warm and hopefully he'll wake up soon and tell us who he is." I noticed a red shirt on the table.

"Is this what he was wearing?"

"Yeah why?"

"The calling that I've had, the person in it was never shown but their hand was and they were wearing this shirt. The voice I've been hearing is a man's voice too."

"So you think that the person in your calling is this guy?"

"I mean it's possible." We saw the man stir on the couch; he woke up a few seconds later and was a little startled.

"Where am I and who are you?"

"You're in a cabin in Tannersville. My name is Ben and this is my sister" he didn't get to finish his statement because the man on the couch finished it for him.

"Michaela"

"How do you know my name?" I asked him, creeped out by the fact that he knew who I was.

"I came up here for a hike. I got stuck in a cave and couldn't get out until today when there was something like an earthquake that created an opening in the cave I crawled out through there and came here. In the cave I burned everything I had on me including a magazine that talked about the disappearance of MA 828. I was about to burn the last page when I looked at it and saw your face. The article said your name and ever since then I've had this need to" and then it clicked for me and I finished his sentence for him.

"Find her."

"Yeah how did you know?"

"I've been hearing it too. Do you know what happened to you in that cave?"

"No I honestly thought that I was going to die in there. How are you alive?"

"What do you mean?" Ben asked

"I mean that last week I bought a magazine that said you were all dead, since the plane was never found, so how are you in front of me and alive?"

"What's your name?"

"Zeke."

"What year did you leave for your hike?"

"2017, why?"

"Zeke it's 2018" I told him.

"No it's not. How would that even be possible?"

"We don't know, but we were on that plane for three hours and when we landed we were told that five and half years had passed. Whatever happened to us on the plane happened to you in that cave."

"Okay this is too much. I need to rest."

"Okay we'll talk about this more in the morning." Ben and I moved away from him to a more secluded spot in the cabin.

"This could change everything. We now have another person who went through the same thing we did the only difference is he wasn't on the plane. There has to be a reason he came back and we need to find out what happened to him."

"Maybe he can help us figure out once and for all what happened to us and all of the passengers."

"You look tired maybe you should get some rest."

"Yeah that's probably the best idea right now." I woke up the next morning and found Grace packing Cal's bag.

"Morning." Grace greeted me.

"Morning. What time are we leaving?"

"I think in an hour or so. Ben wants to go straight to the hospital to have Saanvi check Cal and make sure he's one hundred percent Okay. He also wants Saanvi to check Zeke."

"That sounds like a good idea. I'm going to go find Ben."

"Okay." Ben was outside looking at nothing in particular you could tell he was thinking.

"You're going to bring Zeke to Saanvi?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No I'm just asking. I'm assuming your not taking him just to get checked out."

"I want Saanvi to check his blood and see if he has the same marker in his blood like the rest of us."

"That's a good idea hopefully that will give us more answers."

"Let's go back inside he should be waking up soon if he hasn't already." He held the door for me and let me go in first.

"Thanks"

"Look who's awake" Ben said

"It feels like I've slept for an eternity and yet I'm still tired." Ben chuckled at his statement.

"We're going to be heading out soon. You should probably pack any belongings you had in your back pack some of them came out when you fell." An hour later we were all packed up and ready to go.

"Okay let's go." I noticed that Zeke didn't move from his place.

"Hey are you coming?"

"No I think I'll stay here for a little longer."

"You need to get checked out by a doctor. We're actually heading to a hospital to have our son checked out. We have a friend who works there she can check you out and make sure your okay." Ben replied.

"Thanks, but I'm okay I don't think I'm ready to get back to the real world yet, so I'm going to hang here for a few days."

"Hey it's okay I'll stay here with him and convince him to go." I whispered to Ben.

"Mick we don't know anything about him what if he's dangerous."

"I can take care of myself now go."

"At least call Jared and ask him to come up here."

"No I don't want him involved. I've put him through so much when it comes to these callings I just want to leave him out of it for once."

"What am I supposed to tell him when he asks about you?"

"Just make up some lie. Don't tell him where to find the cabin or else he's going to come up here. I have a feeling I'm supposed to help Zeke and me alone. If Jared comes there's a possibility that Zeke won't give me any answers."

"Okay take care of yourself. Remember it's not just you anymore."

"I will don't worry." I was thankful that I was given the all clear by my doctor to workout. Since I've been working out I don't look as big as I should, plus I'm wearing a big jacket that covers my stomach really well. If I didn't tell you that I was pregnant you wouldn't even be able to tell. Just in case he is dangerous it's good that he doesn't know I'm pregnant.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"I promised them that I would convince you to go back with me."

"I don't believe that that's the only reason you stayed."

"You're right it's not. I need you to show me the cave you were in."

"Did you not hear anything I said yesterday. I was trapped in that cave there's no way I'm going back there."

"I have a feeling we're supposed to go back there together, so you're going to have to get over it and take me to the cave." He started walking away so I grabbed his arm to stop him. That's when we both got a calling I heard the words go back in zeke's voice and we were surrounded by the night sky and stars.

"What was that?"

"That was a calling."


	17. Moving Out

"Now will you take me to the cave. The calling clearly said "go back" and in your voice I might add."

"Fine I'll take you there, but we're going to need some supplies first. There's a bait shop not far from here you should be able to find some food and water there and a few other things."

"Okay I'll be right back you stay here."

"Will do." I left in search for the bait shop he told me about. Once I found it I grabbed the supplies we needed and paid for them; on my way out I saw a missing person's flier I immediately recognized zeke's face on it.

"Hey do you mind if I take this?"

"Sure why not. What a tragic end he went through. The last time I saw him he was heading out on a hike on a mountain nearby. His sister died on that mountain years before he went missing. His body was never found, but I have a feeling he killed himself there." The man behind the counter said.

"What was his little sisters name?"

"I believe her name was Chloe."

"Huh well thanks have a nice day." I walked out and made my way back to the cabin.

Ben's POV

After we took Cal to the hospital I drove them home. Upon Cal's request I stayed and had lunch with them. We were in the middle of playing a game when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Grace said. I watched her walk to the door and open it. Just my luck Jared was on the other side of the door.

"Jared" Grace greeted him.

"Hey Grace, sorry for just stopping by."

"No don't worry about it come in."

"Hey Jared" I greeted him.

"Hey guys. Hey buddy how are you?" He said, his last question directed at Cal who was really concentrated on the game.

"Ugh I have a q."

"Other than that, he is doing fine" I responded back.

"Have you guys heard from Michaela? I'm starting to get a little worried."

"She's doing fine." Grace said

"Yeah the cell service is pretty spotty up there at the cabin."

"What is she still doing there?"

"She just wanted to tie up some loose ends of ours over there. We would have stayed with her but she insisted that we take Cal to the hospital and have him checked out. She should be back tomorrow morning."

"Where's the cabin so I can go over there and join her?" I was about to make up another lie to stop him from going, but the ringing of his cellphone saved me.

"Give me one sec." He got up and answered the phone; he came back a few minutes later. "There's an emergency at the precinct I need to go. Can you tell Mick to call me if she calls you?"

"Yeah of course." He nodded at me and proceeded to walk to the door. I looked at Grace with a look of relief on my face. "That was a close one."

"Yeah I know." We went back to playing our game and hoping Mick would get in contact with Jared soon.

Michaela's POV

"Hey I got all the supplies we need." I said out loud once I got back to the cabin, but to my dismay there was no one here. I'm hoping Zeke didn't leave that long ago, that way I can catch up to him and stop him from leaving. As I was speed walking down the trail into the woods I kept a close eye on my surroundings, so that I would be able to spot him quickly. I found him walking ahead of me a few minutes later.

"Hey. Where are you going?"

"I was hoping I would have been further than this by the time you got back. I guess I underestimated how much time you would take."

"Why don't you want to show me the cave?"

"Because this place doesn't hold any good memories for me. All I want to do is get out of here; not show you a cave that I was trapped and almost died in."

"Are you talking about your sister, Chloe?"

"How do you know about her?"

"The owner of the bait shop knows about you and your family. He likes to talk a lot."

"Alright I'll take you to the cave. Follow me." We walked for twenty minutes until we arrived at this big cave. The small opening he crawled out of has now turned into a big opening. We walked through and used our flashlights to light our way through the cave."

"This is where I decided not to burn your picture."

"Thanks."

"You're picture is the only reason I'm here right now. Everytime I looked at you I would always get the strength to continue living." I didn't know what to say to his statement, so I tried to change the subject.

"This just looks like some regular cave. Nothing special to it."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. Now let's get out of here I can't stand to be on this mountain. It only reminds me of the kind of person I am."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm a bad person and this mountain is a constant reminder of it. My sister would still be alive if it weren't for me."

"Why would you say that?"

"I'm the reason my sister died. I killed her."

"What did you do?"

"Chloe wasnt allowed near the ravine on this mountain, but I decided to take her anyway because I thought that I was too old to go camping. I heard her calling out my name, but I was too busy talking to a girl that I didn't even know. I told Chloe that I was trying to talk on the phone and that's the last thing I said to her."

"I killed my best friend in a car accident. I had been drinking that night. She wanted to drive herself home, since she needed her car in the morning. I told her that I wasn't going to let her drive home and that I was going to call an Uber instead. After she grabbed the keys and tried to open the drivers side door. I grabbed the keys from her and agreed to drive. I knew that it wasn't a good idea since I had been drinking too, but I did it anyway. I have come to terms with what I did. Everyday since that day I've been trying to work hard at becoming the person I used to be. I changed a lot after the accident and I've been building myself back up since then. What happened to your sister wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for it." We started walking out of the cave, when we finally reached the open air I felt much better. Being in that cave made me feel a little uneasy.

"Thank you for that."

"Your welcome." I gave him a hug and the moment we both touched we got the same calling as before. We quickly pulled and looked at each other.

"I just want to know what go back means if we can figure that out we can work on solving this calling."

"I think I know what it means. There is a little memorial for my sister at the spot where she passed away. Maybe the calling is trying to tell us that I need to go back to her memorial."

"If we're both hearing the same thing I think that means that I need to go with you."

"My parents wanted me to come up here after she passed and build a cairn for her. I used to build them with her. It's a stone monument, but I never could get the guts to do it. She used to call them fairy towers."

"Okay let's make one." We separated and started looking for rocks that we could use. We put all our rocks on top of each other until we had a little tower. We were outside all afternoon. By the time we finished the sun was already going down. Before we went back Zeke took off a necklace from around his neck and put it on top of the rocks. He said his final goodbyes and turned to walk away.

"That was my sister's necklace. I've been wearing it since she passed away."

"It was a beautiful necklace."

"Yeah it was. It was her favorite one." We got back to the cabin and I didn't want to do anything else, but sleep. I stayed awake with Ben all of last night trying to figure out this new mystery.

"I'm actually pretty tired and we have a long drive back tomorrow so I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I closed the door to the room and tried to get comfortable in bed. I couldn't help, but think about my confrontation with Jared tomorrow. I know that it wasn't fair of me to put him in this situation he must be so worried about me. I know that he's not going to be happy with me. I woke up the next morning later than I thought I would. When I looked at the time I realized that if I didn't leave now I would be late to work. I got up and went to wake up Zeke.

"Hey, wake up we have to go."

"Can't we stay a little bit longer and leave later in the afternoon."

"No we cant I'm going to be late for work if we don't leave now."

"Fine let me grab my backpack and then we can go." Our drive back to New York City was silent. We didn't do much talking we just let the radio fill the silence in the car. We arrived at the precinct just in time for my shift.

"You're a police officer?"

"Yeah I am. I'm going to call Ben and have him come and pick you up here. For now just sit tight until he gets here." We walked into the precinct and went straight to my desk. "Grab the chair and sit he shouldn't be long." Twenty minutes later Jared and Ben both walked into the precinct together. They started walking towards me.

"Hey." Ben said and Jared remained silent next to him. Both Zeke and I turned and faced them.

"Hey." I responded. I immediately turned right back to Zeke. "Okay I'll stop by later and check on how you're adjusting." Zeke reached over and grabbed my hand in his. I was too shocked to do anything I just listened to what he had to say.

"Alright. Thank you again for everything I mean it. I don't think I would have been able to get through that without you so thanks."

"Your welcome." He gave me a kiss on the cheek and then finally let go of my hand. Ben and him left the precinct and I was left with Jared staring at me.

"What was that?" Was the first thing he asked me.

"That was nothing. He was just being polite."

"Okay so how about you explain to me why you didn't come home yesterday or even call me to tell me you were staying behind."

"I'm sorry okay. I just need to be up there alone and I knew you wouldn't let that happen."

"But you weren't alone, you were with him." I could tell he was jealous of Zeke. I wouldn't blame him. He just watched Zeke hold my hand and kiss me on the cheek. Not to mention he just realized that I spent a whole day alone with Zeke at the cabin.

"It's honestly not what it looks like. I just helped him deal with some personal issues and that's all. You have nothing to worry about I promise you. I stayed up there because Zeke is one of us. The calling I kept having before I left for the cabin had to do with him. He was the person I kept seeing and he was the one who I kept hearing say the words find her. While we were up there we both got the same calling. I believed that the only way to solve that calling was to help him, which I did. I needed to do it alone without. If you had gone up there we wouldn't have been able to get anything done. I'm so sorry I made you worry. I'm sorry." I couldn't tell if he was still mad at me, but he stepped forward and pulled me into a tight hug I immediately hugged him back.

"Don't ever do that to me again. I don't care if your calling is telling you to be alone. You really had me worried." I really felt bad for him; I know how much he cares about me and I put him in an impossible situation.

"Okay I promise. So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"No I'm just glad that you're safe. I could never stay mad at you for too long."

"I don't know what I did to deserve you. Had it been someone else I probably would have been dumped right this instant. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"Oh and by the way you're adorable when you're jealous."

"I wasn't jealous I was worried."

"Oh yes you were." He rolled his eyes and started walking away.

"No I wasn't." I laughed I knew that he was jealous it was way too obvious.

A few days later Zeke showed up at the precinct. I had just seen him yesterday, so I found it weird that he would come and look for me at work.

"Hey what are you doing here?" I saw that Jared had perked up when he heard me talk to someone. I saw him look up and realize who I was talking too. He tried to make it look like he wasn't listening, but I knew that he was.

"I was kind of hoping we could go out for lunch together. Like on a date if your interested?"

"I don't think that's a great idea I'm so sorry, but I'm actually engaged to the detective that Ben walked into the precinct the first day you came back and I'm also pregnant with our first child."

"Oh you are. I didn't even notice."

"I know. I wore a jacket all the times you saw me and that covered up my stomach really well and since I tend to wear long sleeve shirts that cover my hands which, also cover my ring."

"Well this isn't embarrassing at all."

"I'm sorry it's my fault."

"No it's not. It's mine I should have noticed earlier and saved myself the embarrassment."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to go now. I'll see you around."

"Yeah of course." I felt so bad for him. It must have taken a lot for him to come down here and ask me out on a date. I turned my head to see what Jared's reaction was and I could tell he was trying to hold back his laughter. The minute Zeke left the precinct I walked over to him.

"What are you smirking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"So your smirk has nothing to do with the fact that I just said no to Zeke's lunch date offer?"

"Maybe."

"Oh come on just admit it. You found it funny that Zeke asked me out because you knew I would say no since I'm already engaged to you and you also knew that he would feel embarrassed once I turned him down and told him why."

" I mean you have to admit it's kind of funny."

"Seriously. I honestly feel bad for him."

"Okay you're right I'm sorry. I don't blame him for wanting you. I mean have you seen yourself you're beautiful anyone would be crazy not to have you. Which is why I'm thankful that I get to call you my fiancee and soon to be wife."

"Stop it or you're going to make me cry in the middle of work."

"I love you so much and I'm the luckiest man in the world."

"I love you too. We should probably get back to work."

"Yeah probably."

"Can I ask you one thing before we do?"

"Sure."

"Why is it that this time you didn't get jealous of Zeke. I know that you keep saying you weren't jealous, but I know you. I know when you're lying. So what changed this time?"

"I reminded myself that you won't leave me for someone else. We both love each other so much and we're each other's soulmates. There's no one that can tear us apart. We're stuck with each other forever."

"That's something I don't mind. I think your the only person I could spend the rest of my life with. I cant imagine my life without you."

"I feel the same way."

"Okay we really need to get back to work now."

"Okay."

"Hey I just got a call from the real estate agent." Finally we would be getting an answer on whether or not the house is ours.

"What did he say?" I asked him eagerly.

"They took our offer. The house is officially ours."

"Really?" I had a big smile on my face.

"Yes, really." I jumped up from my seat in excitement and kissed him. "We own a house."

"Yes, we do. Since the old owners of the house are still living there we only need to wait two weeks and then we can start moving in all of our things."

"Wow two more weeks in the apartment that's insane. Sometimes I had the thought that we would be living there forever."

"Why would you think that?"

"Every house I saw online didn't appeal to me. We were looking for so long that I was starting to worry if we'd ever find the perfect home."

"Well you can stop worrying because we did and it's perfect."

"I can't wait to tell everyone the great news."

"We'll go find Ben and Grace after work and tell them the news."

"Okay." I smiled and sat back down in my seat. Jared went back to his desk and continued working on his case. After work we did exactly what we said we were going to do. I texted Ben to see where he was and to my luck he was with Grace and the kids at the house. I knocked on the door and waited for one of them to open it. Unfortunately it wasn't Ben, Grace or one of the kids it was Zeke. I totally forgot that he was staying here until he had a place of his own.

"Hey." I greeted him awkwardly.

"Hi." We walked into the house and realized that Jared and him haven't been properly introduced yet.

"This is Jared Vasquez. Jared this is Zeke. He's the person Cal went to the cabin to find."

It's nice to meet you." Jared said holding out one hand for Zeke to shake.

"Likewise." He responded grabbing Jared's hand.

"Hey guys" I looked to the top of the staircase and saw Ben and Grace coming down with the kids right behind them.

"Hey" Jared and I both said in unison. We gave everyone hugs and then settled into the living room.

"So what's your big news?" Ben asked.

"We are officially owners of a house." I said with excitement.

"Really?" Grace asked.

"Yeah we are. I got a call from the real estate agent today letting me know that our offer had been taken." Jared responded.

"That's amazing congratulations I'm so happy for you guys."

"Thank you Grace." Jared said.

"I'm going to be spending a lot of time at your house. Especially now that you have a room you can decorate as a nursery for the baby. It's going to look amazing." Olive said giving me a big hug.

"Unfortunately that won't be happening for another two weeks." I said.

"Why?" Olive asked.

"The old owners of the house are still living there so they need two weeks to fully move out of the house." I explained to her.

"Well whenever you get the house I'm going to be there in an instant to help you decorate the nursery." She said.

"I have a feeling she's going to be the boss when it comes to decorating the nursery." I said to Jared.

"Yeah me too." He responded.

"Hey I just love decorating things especially if it's for a baby. Little Evie is going to love me" Olive said.

"I bet. Who wouldn't love you? You're one of the most loveable individuals that I know." I said

"Yeah I'm pretty great aren't I."

"Alright don't let it get to your head."

"We should probably get going we've had a long day and it's about time you got some rest." Jared said.

"You're always worrying about her aren't you?" Grace asked.

"Yeah I guess I am."

"I think it's romantic and adorable."

"Well I try."

"I could really use a nap. Let's go home." I said.

"Okay. We'll see you guys soon." Jared said. Ben followed us to the door and came outside.

"So are you officially back together with Grace. You guys seemed cozy in there?" I asked him.

"Yeah we are actually."

"Does that mean you're moving back here?"

"It sounds like you miss me already and I haven't even moved out yet."

"So you are moving out of the apartment?"

"Yeah I am."

"Wow congratulations I'm so happy for the both of you."

"Thanks Mick."

"I'm actually going to miss living with you guys."

"I'm going to miss having you around too. With you living at the apartment I wasn't Mick's sole target of her bossiness."

"I am not bossy."

"Yes you are." The both of them said in unison.

"Okay maybe a little."

"Try a lot." Ben said.

"Whatever, the both of you are ruining a great moment, but in all seriousness I really am going to miss having you around the apartment."

Ben gave me a tight hug. "I'll come by to pick up my things later."

"Okay." I got into the car and we drove back home. "Hey can we make a quick stop before we go home?"

"Yeah sure where do you want to go?"

"I want to go see my mom."

"Okay let's go." The cemetery was on the way to our apartment so we didn't have to turn around.

"Hey mom. We got the best news today Jared and I are officially homeowners. The house is so beautiful and it's going to be a great place for Evie to grow up. The house has a big backyard so that she can play all she wants. We're so excited to start this new chapter in our lives. I miss you everyday, but I know that you're looking after me and Evie. I love you." I brought one of my hands up to my mouth kissed it and then pressed that hand up against my mom's tombstone. I got up and walked to where Jared was waiting for me. I appreciated that he gave me space to talk to my mom in private. When I reached him I grabbed his hand and we walked hand in hand to the car.


	18. Home Sweet Home

2 weeks later…

Moving is such a stressful thing. We've been packing up our apartment since we found out we got the house. It wouldn't have been as bad if we didn't have all of the baby's things to pack too. I realized that buying baby necessities and baby clothes before moving wasn't such a good idea. Ben moved out the day after he told us him and Grace were back together. He knew that we would need his help packing up the place, so he's been helping us out the entire week. I also have my 20 week scan coming up on friday. I have a feeling the appointment will be the only break I'll get from the moving process, well that and work. Tomorrow is moving day and our apartment is completely empty, Jared and I both thought it would be best to sleep at Ben's for the night and come back tomorrow morning.

"Hey" I said to Grace when I got to the house.

"Hey Mick. How are you doing?"

"Other than the stress I'm getting from the move, I'm fine."

"Don't stress yourself out too much it's not good for the baby."

"I know I've been trying hard to make sure I relax whenever I get too stressed."

"Is Jared with you or are you on your own?"

"Nope, I'm on my own. Jared had a few things to take care of before he came so we decided to just meet up here."

"Are you guys excited?"

"I can probably speak for the both of us right now and say yes and no st the same time. I think once we're all settled in and everything is unpacked then we will be more excited, but for now we're just dreading tomorrow's move."

"I get it. When Ben and I first moved here it was a disaster."

"I remember that day. One of the trucks with your stuff went to the wrong place right?"

"Yeah it did. I was already stressed out and to top it off our things got lost. It's safe to say no one could calm me down after that."

"I vaguely remember that you didn't calm down until after the truck arrived at the house. Poor Ben you were making it hard for him to try and keep himself calm."

"Moving was not a great experience for me, hopefully it's better for you."

"Yeah hopefully. You guys had a lot more things than we did though. You needed two trucks and we only need one, hopefully since the load is smaller it won't be so bad."

"Just make sure to take care of yourself tomorrow and try not to lift up heavy loads. Let us do the heavy lifting"

"Trust me that won't be too hard to do."

"Has she started moving in there?" Grace said as she pointed to my growing stomach.

"No not yet. We were told 16-25 weeks and since I'm 20 weeks I'm hoping she'll start moving soon."

"When's your next appointment?"

"This friday."

"Make sure to come and show me the pictures from the ultrasound. I would love to see her."

"I'll make sure to bring them the next time I see you."

"How's the pregnancy going?"

"It's actually going much better than I thought it would be, but I'm ready to meet her at this point."

"You just have to wait 20 more weeks and you'll get your wish."

"I kind of want the next 20 weeks pass fast, but at the same time I don't. I'm probably not making any sense right now."

"No I get it. It was the same with me. Enjoy these weeks because you won't get any sleep or any alone time for a little while. You and Jared should go on a vacation somewhere?"

"Yeah I don't know about that. I don't think I'm ready to go on another plane again. Not after what happened last time."

"Right, I forget about that sometimes. Well you don't necessarily have to take a plane you could always drive down somewhere, like Florida."

"That's true, but we're both so busy with work that I don't know if we even could."

"Find some time, trust me you wont regret it. Ben and I did it and it was a great way to spend our last weeks as just a married couple and not parents."

"You did?"

"Yeah we went to Myrtle beach. We didn't want to go far since I wasn't that far from giving birth. I think I had 5 weeks left and since we were having twins we wanted to be somewhere remotely close just in case I gave birth early."

"How come I didn't find this out until now?"

"That's because at the time you were spending almost all your time with Jared."

"Oh yeah that sounds about right."

"Yeah, but you guys should really take a vacation."

"I mean Jared has been wanting to go down to Florida. He has some family there that he wants to see."

"See now you have a reason to go down there. Talk to him about it I bet you he'll say yes."

"Okay, I guess we could use a break. With everything that's happened in the last few months we need a getaway vacation somewhere far from here."

"See that's the spirit."

"I'm going to go see my dad. If Jared gets here before I get back just let him know, so that he's not worried about me."

"Okay I will. Say hi to Steve for me."

"Alright I'll make sure to tell him. I'll see you later."

"Bye." I made sure to call my dad and let him know that I would be visiting him, that way I didn't just pop up and have him not be home.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Hi dad."

"How are my two favorite girls doing?"

"We're doing great. How are you doing?"

"You know me always trying to keep myself entertained. I feel like you haven't been here in forever."

"Yeah I haven't stepped foot in this house since the baby shower. Which clearly means I should try and visit more often."

"I know your job is always keeping you busy, but not too busy I hope."

"I take two days off a week don't worry I'm not working too hard. That and I'm pretty sure if I tried to work an extra day Jared wouldn't be too happy with that."

"He's just trying to look out for you that's all."

"I know and I appreciate that."

"So what's up?"

"Do you ever feel like life is too good to be true?"

"I've had moments like that. Why?"

"I just feel like this is all a dream that I'm going to wake up from. Like I'll wake up to a time before the plane disappeared or even worse I'll wake up to face a world after the plane disappeared. I'm afraid that if any of that happens I won't have the happiness that I have now."

"Well you don't have to worry about that because you are not dreaming. This is really your life."

"I know it's just I get a little negative with myself sometimes."

"You shouldn't. You deserve the life your living and don't you forget it. Now how about we go out and have dinner like old times."

"Okay should we flip a coin?"

"You always loved doing that?"

"Yeah because I always win."

"Okay. Do you have a coin?"

"Do you want to call it or should I?" I said while checking my pockets for a coin.

"I'll call it this time, maybe I'll actually win."

"Before we do this what are we going to eat?"

"Pizza." he said

"Chinese." I responded back

"Okay I call heads." I grabbed the coin from my pocket and flipped it. Once we got to our destination we walked inside and ordered our food. We paid and grabbed a table to sit at.

"I think this is the first time that you have ever won this game." I said before taking a bite of my slice of pizza.

"I guess calling heads first really worked in my favor this time."

"Yeah I guess it did."

"It was about time too, I always thought that I would always be the ruling champ."

"Well that's not the case anymore."

"Out of curiosity, how bad was I as a kid?"

"Why would you think that you were bad?"

"Let's be honest Ben was always the model child, me on the other hand not so much."

"Contrary to your belief you weren't a bad kid at all."

"Really? That seems hard to believe."

"Yes really."

"Even though I snuck out a lot when I wasn't supposed too."

"Yes even then. Believe it or not I was much like you when I was younger and I was always getting into trouble over it."

"I can't imagine you being anything like me. You seem like you were more like Ben as a teenager."

"I wasn't. Much to my parents dismay."

"If only you knew the things that I did that you guys never found out about."

"Do I even want to know?"

"I mean it's not completely bad, but the reason I'm thinking about it right now is because Jared and I were actually talking about when we were younger not that long ago."

"Oh boy. What did you do?" I gave him my sweetest smile knowing that he won't be too impressed by the actions made by my younger self.

"Do you remember the time you grounded me for almost a month because I snuck out of the house to go to a party with Evie and Lourdes?"

"Yes I vaguely remember. You got in trouble so much over sneaking out of the house that I've lost count of how many times we grounded you for it."

"Well Jared and I had a date that month that I was grounded. Maybe you'll remember me begging you guys to let me go out on our date?"

"That I do remember."

"Since you guys didn't let me go, I actually snuck him into my room the night of our date. At first he didn't want to do it, but I somehow managed to convince him to sneak in through my window." He started laughing after I finished. "What's so funny?" I asked becoming curious.

"The fact that you thought we didn't know about that is what's funny."

"You knew that he snuck into my room and you let it happen."

"Of course we knew. Back then you guys weren't good at being stealthy."

"Then why didn't you say anything or better yet why didn't you kick him out."

"We left you guys alone because we knew how much you wanted to see him and we also knew that you guys wouldn't do anything other than hang out."

"So your telling me I used my favor from Ben for no reason?" I said absentmindedly.

"What favor?"

"Well Ben wasn't as innocent as you thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say there's a reason that he wasn't much for sneaking out of the house. He tried to once and it failed miserably."

"Seriously?" I know that Ben is going to possibly kill me for telling him, but he won't do it while I'm pregnant, so I'm safe for now.

"Yeah some of his friends convinced him to sneak out of the house and surprisingly he agreed. It was easy for him to get out, but not as easy to get back in. He asked me to distract you guys in the living room so that he could sneak back in through the front door and up to his room. It worked and from that day on he owed me a favor, which I thought I used when he caught me and Jared in my room the night he sneaked in, but I guess not."

"That I didn't know. I never pegged him to be a person to sneak out."

"That's what I thought the night that he did. I always thought that he was a bookworm."

"People always find ways to surprise us."

"Yes they do. I hope my daughter is more like Ben and less like me, but I have a feeling that's not going to be the case. Karma is going to give me a taste of my own medicine."

"Don't worry your daughter is going to be great, but enjoy the innocent years as much as possible. Once she's a teenager she will become harder to deal with, if she acts like you did when you were a teen."

"Jared is very protective of me, I can't imagine how he'll be with her especially when she gets older."

"Do you want to have more kids after Evie?"

"Yeah I do, but just not anytime soon. After a few years I would love to have another kid. I'm already so in love with Evie that its made me fall in love with the idea of having more kids."

"Hopefully you'll have another soon because I'm not getting any younger."

"Well let me have Evie first and then we'll see. Grace has been telling me that having a newborn means you get no sleep, so I think we might want to wait a little bit before we have another and continue with the no sleep routine."

"I get it. Your mom and I waited six years before we had you."

"Yeah and in the end it all worked out."

"It really did." We spent the rest of dinner reminiscing on my childhood and on my dad's childhood too. I heard stories that he had told me growing up, but I also heard stories that I never knew of before. After dinner I drove back to Ben and Grace's, I need enough rest so that I'll be able to deal with tomorrow's events. My old bedroom was still unoccupied so that's where Jared and I are crashing for the night. Jared was already in our room going through the overnight bag we packed when I walked in.

"Hey" I walked over to him and gave him a kiss.

"Hi" He grabbed my face in his hands and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before getting back to what he was doing. "How was dinner with your dad?"

"It was great. We hadn't done the flip a coin dinner game in a long time. It felt nice to do something that we used to do."

"Let me guess you won again?"

"Actually no, not this time."

"Really? You've never lost a coin toss."

"I know, but this time I did and my dad got to choose dinner. We had pizza I brought back a pie for everyone. Its downstairs if your hungry."

"Thanks I'll go down later I just want to sort through this right now."

"Okay. So I was talking to Grace earlier and she got me thinking. What if we went on a mini vacation before the baby is born? Kind of like a last hurrah before we start getting no sleep and no time to ourselves?"

"That sounds great. We could really use a break from all of this."

"I know that you wanted to see some of your family that lives in Florida. I dont think I'm ready to get on another plane anytime soon so how do you feel about taking a road trip down there for a week."

"That's actually not a bad idea. We just have to see when we'll be able to take off. Once we have that we can go down there."

"Sounds like a plan then."

"It'll be nice to see my family down there."

"I can't wait, but first we have to get through tomorrow."

"Don't worry we will.."

"Im wiped I'm going to get ready for bed, hopefully some sleep will do me good." I finished getting ready in record time. Usually my night routine takes me longer than ten minutes, but today I didn't feel like spending more time than that. I've been trying to get into reading before bed instead of going on my phone. It was hard at first because I've become so accustomed to it, but the minute I found a book I was interested in, it wasn't too bad. At first I thought that there was something wrong with the baby the minute I felt pain in my stomach. I knew that pain in your abdominal area during a pregnancy is never good. I was about to start freaking out when I felt the same pain, but accompanied with something hitting my hand this time.

"Jared" I yelled out to him. He came out of the bathroom really fast I could tell he was worried.

"What's wrong are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm more than okay actually."

"What's going on?"

"She finally kicked."

"What?"

"Evie finally moved. She kicks really hard actually I thought that I was getting pains in my stomach, but it was just her letting me know she's in there." Jared moved to sit beside me on the bed. He put his hands on my stomach and waited for her to kick. We only had to wait a few seconds for her to kick up against his hand.

"She's truly amazing."

"Yeah she is."

"Your mom and I love you so much sweet girl. We can't wait to meet you just try and not hurt mommy too much." I had never seen Jared like this ever. He's like a ball of mush when it comes to our daughter and I love it. He put a kiss on my stomach and looked up at me.

"That was sweet. You're going to be the best father ever. Evie is going to be so loved and protected."

"And you're going to be the best mother to our daughter."

"I hope so. I've never really been the best role model. I've messed up so many things in my life that I just hope I don't mess up when it comes to her."

"Yes you've made mistakes, but that doesn't make you a bad role model or a bad person. Who hasn't made mistakes in their lives. What matters is what you do to try and make things right. You're the best person I've ever met, I wouldn't be completely in love with you if you weren't. Your not a bad person, so don't worry about that; oEvie will love you just as much as I do."

"Thanks. You always were really good at making me feel better." We spent the rest of the night talking to Evie and feeling her kick up against our hands it was a great way to end the day.

The next day….

I woke up the next morning feeling well rested. We ate breakfast before going back to the apartment to wait for the movers. It took almost 40 minutes to put all of our furniture and belongings in the moving truck. I have a feeling it would have taken us a little longer if we didn't have the movers helping us out with everything.

"Well that didn't take as long as I thought it would." We were on our way to the house; the movers left before us so they should be arriving earlier than we are.

"No it didn't."

"I remember helping Grace and Ben when they were moving into their house. That took so much longer, everything was a process."

"If I remember correctly they also had more things than us."

"Yeah that's true. I'm just hoping the movers didn't get lost because I don't want anything to make this day any longer than I know it will be."

"The first thing we have to do is organize the furniture in our bedroom that way we don't have to sleep at Ben and Grace's."

"Yeah I don't mind sleeping over there, but our bed is much more comfortable than the one in that room and right now this pregnancy is making me a little uncomfortable when I sleep and an uncomfortable bed is not something I want to sleep on tonight." The minute we got to the house Ben, my dad, Grace, Olive and Jared started to help unload all of our furniture and all of our boxes. It took us a two hours to organize all the furniture. Getting furniture upstairs was a hassle. In our apartment we didn't need to get any of the furniture up the stairs since it was only one floor. Just trying to get everything up there took almost an hour. Grace was kind enough to make us all lunch while we continued working. We took a two hour break since we knew that after lunch it would be a nonstop moving train until we finished for the night. We knew that not everything would get unpacked but we're hopeful that with all the help we have the majority of our boxes will be opened and organized.

"Can I get started on Evie's nursery? I can put all her clothes on hangers and put them in her closet?" Olive asked me.

"Okay her clothes are in one of these boxes I made sure to label it, so it should be around here somewhere."

"Okay great." She walked towards the pile of boxes in the middle of the living room and started looking for the one she needed. She came back a few minutes later with a box in her arms.

"Where do you have the hangers?"

"They're in a box that says random. You should find them at the top of the box."

"Okay I'll go and check." By the end of the night we had unpacked ninety-five percent of all of our boxes. The furniture was put in its place and everything was organized in the places they needed to be. Olive did a great job with Evie's clothes and she even started putting away some of Evie's other baby necessities. Everything was coming together so well, we were really starting to feel like we were at home. Jared and I were so tired by then end of the night that we fell asleep the minute we got into bed. It didn't help that we had work early the next morning, but we went to bed happy and content.


	19. Going Back

When I woke up this morning I had a weird feeling something was wrong. The minute I opened my eyes I noticed that there was something wrong with my surrounding. I was in my bed at Ben and Grace's house. None of this was making any sense to me because I went to bed at my house with Jared by my side; how is it that I wake up in the wrong house. I looked to my side and didn't see Jared lying next to me. The scariest part was the minute I looked down at my pregnant stomach I noticed that it was flat instead of being round. I went into the bathroom hoping he was in there; when I didn't find him I started to look around the room for any clue that he was even here at all, to my dissatisfaction I didn't find anything that belonged to him. I quickly got changed and went upstairs to the kitchen. I found Ben sitting at the kitchen table looking at his laptop. He saw me walk in and greeted me.

"Hey"

"Hi"

"Are you okay? You seem a little off."

"How did I get here?"

"What do you mean? You've been living here since the plane came back." That statement was enough to make my stomach turn. It couldn't be possible that my worst nightmare was coming true.

"Right sometimes I forget. Um what day is it?"

"November 18th." He was looking at me as if I was going crazy. I wanted to throw up the moment he said the date. We had only been back for two weeks. How is that even possible? The only thing I could think about in that moment was finding out if I'm still pregnant with Evie. I feel like I woke up into this alternate universe that just had to be my worst nightmare.

"I'm going to head out I'll see you later."

"You're heading to work already? I can drop you off at the precinct if you want?" That was a good sign, I had started working again. I was about to say that I would just drive myself, but I realized that since we've only been back for two weeks I still haven't driven a car. I had to be careful with my words I don't want to make it look like there is anything wrong with me other than everything that is already wrong, like the callings.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm just going to take the train."

"Okay see you later."

"Yeah." I walked out of the house and looked around for my car, but it wasn't anywhere in sight which was to be expected. I walked to the closest drug store and bought a few pregnancy tests. I was so anxious to find out the results that I was torn on what to do. If I go back home right now Ben will be suspicious on why I came back so soon, since I just told him I was heading to work. I don't want to wait until the end of the day to find out, so I have no choice, but to take the tests in the bathroom at the drugstore. I'm thankful that this bathroom had more than one stall, that way no one will rush me to get out. Waiting for the results was just as torturous as the first time, maybe even worse. After the five minutes were up I was scared to see the results. When I went to look at them it felt like my world had shattered around me. The tests were all negative. This made no sense to me, had I been dreaming about my other life with Jared and Evie. I had fallen in love with my daughter and now I have to face the fact that I don't have her anymore. There were tears coming out of my eyes; I was so emotional and so in shock that I didn't even notice that I had started crying. I cleaned myself up and put the tests in the plastic bag I had them in. I threw them in the trash and put paper towels over the bag so that people wouldn't see what was inside. When I got to the precinct I was dreading the fact that I had to go inside and face Jared. I know that he's most likely still with Lourdes and that notion is going to hurt so bad. It's like having to go through all the emotions I went through when the plane disappeared all over again. I walked in and just my luck Lourdes was here too. They were talking quietly over by Jared's desk. I don't think I've ever been so thankful to have gotten a desk at a good distance from Jared's desk. They hadn't noticed that I had walked in and I was grateful for that. I got to my desk, sat down and started working. After a few minutes I saw a shadow appear on my desk, I looked up to see Lourdes right beside me.

"Hey."

"Hi" I really didn't feel like having this conversation, but for the sake of me not looking like a bitch I sucked it up and tried to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good thanks for asking."

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight?"

"You, me and Jared in one room, I don't know if that's such a great idea. It would be very awkward."

"I know I just thought you could spend some time with some friends. It seems like you've been very busy with work lately and I'm assuming you're still living with Ben and Grace, since your always over there. I was thinking some fresh air and quality time with friends would be a good way to get out of the house."

"I don't know. I think it's a little too soon for that."

"Just think about it. I would really love to spend time with you." I gave her a small smile as she turned around and left the precinct. I sat back up against my seat and breathed out the air I didn't know I was holding in. If there's one thing I really need right now, to get me through the morning, is a cup of coffee. Nothing can go wrong with that. I grabbed a cup and poured the freshly brewed coffee inside. As I was getting ready to head back to my desk Jared decided to choose this moment to walk over to me.

"Hey can we talk for a second?" Part of me wanted to say no and just go back to my desk, but the other part of me wanted to say yes just so that I could have an excuse to be near him. Eventually the part of me that wanted to talk to him won.

"Yeah sure." My response came out of my mouth so quick I didn't even notice if I said anything at all. I followed him to a more secluded area in the precinct where no one would be able to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"I'm sorry about Lourdes I told her that inviting you to dinner might not be something you're interested in. I just wished she had listened to me."

"No it's okay don't worry about it."

"She didn't seem happy when she left. I'm assuming you told her no."

"I just don't think I'm ready for that yet. It's going to take some time. No one ever said moving on would be easy."

"I'm sorry." As much as this hurt I knew that if I was going to live in this new reality I needed to find a way to move on with my life and move on from Jared.

"You don't have to keep apologizing. Like I've said before I don't blame you guys. I was gone and you fell in love with each other and I support it 100%. I would be a terrible best friend to Lourdes if I weren't okay with it."

"When you came back I felt this guilt inside of me that I hadn't felt in a while. Just the thought of you finding out that I married Lourdes made me feel so guilty. I think it may have been the same for Lourdes too. So I appreciate the fact that you don't blame us, but it hasn't made the feeling of guilt go away or any easier to handle."

"This is exactly what I wanted to avoid when I found out about you two. I didn't want to come into your lives like a wrecking ball and mess it all up and I especially don't want you feeling bad or guilty when you didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes I feel like we shouldn't have come back at all especially when everyone was just starting to move on with their lives."

"Mick you're not a wrecking ball and you didn't mess anything up. We are all really happy that you guys came back home. We spent five years without the three of you and for the first half of those years we spent mourning your loss. I think the hardest thing was going to your funerals because we thought that that was it you were really gone. To find out that you weren't was the best thing ever. Grace got her son and her husband back. Lourdes and I got you back in our lives. Yes things are extremely different from the way you guys left it, but you guys honestly didn't ruin anything." It felt good hearing him say those things. It was hard for me to not give him a hug; that's all I wanted right now, to have his arms around me and keep me safe.

"I have to get back to work if I want to leave on time from here."

"Yeah of course." Later that day I sat in my bed and just thought about everything that happened today. I'm still very confused whether I was dreaming about my other life, but honestly now that I think about it, it makes sense. I was going to accept his proposal and spend the rest of my life with him. Even though I'll be able to see him everyday, it's just not the same, I miss him so much. Today has made me realize that I'm going to miss having him around when I get emotional or frustrated. I'm going to miss having him here comforting me when I need it. I'm going to miss everything about our relationship that I got so used to always having. Moving on will be the hardest thing I will ever have to do, but I know that I'm strong enough to do it. I thought I hit rock bottom when Evie passed away, and I never thought I could go any lower, oh how wrong was I. I pretty much have to rebuild myself backup from the very bottom. The hardest part of it all is that I dont have my daughter anymore. She was one of the only things that I actually managed do right in my life and to have that taken away is just devastating. It feels like it's the world's way of telling me that I wouldn't live up to what my mom was to me when I was younger. That night I cried myself to sleep hoping that my life would stop going downhill and that things actually got better instead of worse. I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better than I did the night before. As I was going through my nightstand I came across the engagement ring that Jared gave me. I must have put it in here and forgotten about it. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. It's a constant reminder of the life I thought I had and that's not something I want. If I'm going to start over I need to start by giving this back to him. I thought that I would go up to him and just give it back, but unfortunately it wasn't that easy. I was finding it very hard go up to him, so I just sat at my desk and did my work. I waited until he got up from his desk to go over there. I kept a lookout for him as I walked to his desk. I was just going to leave it in one of his drawers for him to find later. As I was opening the top drawer I heard someone call my name from behind me. I turned around and faced Jared.

"Mick what are you doing?" I motioned for him to follow me. Once we were alone I started explaining myself.

"I wasn't snooping, I promise. I have something for you, but I couldn't find the guts to give it to you in person. I was just going to put it in your desk for you to find when you opened the top drawer."

"Okay what is it?" I took the small black box out of my jacket and held it in my hands.

"The engagement ring you gave me. I thought I would give it back to you."

"Mick you don't have to give it back to me. I got that ring for you; it's yours to keep."

"I don't want to keep it. This has become a constant reminder of something I would rather not think about so take it, please." I reached out for his hand and placed the box in it. I went to walk away, but Jared had to ask the question that I've been dreading and hoping he wouldn't ask.

"What does it remind you of?" I turned around looked at him. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out I closed my mouth sighed and decided to look away from him. I turned back to him and gave him the answer that he was curious to find out.

"It's a constant reminder of a life I'm never going to get. A life, that when I landed, I thought I was going to have. To have the opportunity to leave behind the things that haunted me and just be happy with the one person who made me feel like I deserved to be happy. There, is that what you wanted to hear. That, that ring is a constant reminder of the fact that I never got the chance to tell you yes to your proposal and that I get to watch my best friend be with you. I know I said I don't blame you for anything that happened and I truly don't blame the both of you, but I just can't help and feel a little jealous of her."

"Mick" I cut him off before he could say anything else.

"No I don't want to talk about it. Just take the ring please."

"Okay. I just want to say one thing."

"Go ahead."

"You don't have to be jealous of Lourdes. I never replaced you; our life together would have been different, so there's nothing to be jealous about.

"Different in what way?"

"You were my first choice to spend the rest of my life with. Something inside me is makes me believe that had none of this happened and we had gotten married our lives together would have been better."

"Do you know what your saying right now?"

"Yeah I know. Seeing you that first time after you got back made me realize that I still love you, but I also love Lourdes."

"I know. You two are good for each other which is why I didn't want to get in the way of your relationship with her. I just needed closure and I really think that giving you back the ring is the start to achieving that. I'm going to get back to work." I went home later that day feeling like there was a weight that had been lifted off my shoulders. Olive and I decided to order in for dinner. Grace, Ben and Cal were at the hospital tonight for Cal's treatment, which left me and Olive home alone. We ordered chinese food and sat on the couch watching movies. We argued over what movies were good and what would happen next.

"No trust me she's going to live through this." Olive said

"No she's not I'm calling it, right now, she's going to die."

"Are you so confident that you'll bet $10 for it?"

"Yes I'm that confident."

"Okay you're on aunt Mick." We shook on it and continued to watch the movie. I had never watched the purge, but Olive and I read the description for the movie and it sounded interesting enough to watch. I'm really hoping that this girl dies in the movie or else I'm going to owe Olive money. We finally finished the movie one hour later.

"Ha I told you she wasn't going to die. It's time to pay up."

"Fine." I took out ten dollars that I had in my jacket and handed it over to her.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Your lucky your my favorite niece."

"Aunt Mick I'm your only niece."

"That's true"

"Should we watch another movie?"

"Yeah sure." We watched the movie 2012. We spent the entire movie debating on what we would do if the world came to an end.

"Here's the thing if the world were to end like this I would choose to go up into space or if I had no other choice I guess I would get on the boat. The thought of getting on a boat to live on for, maybe, the rest of my life scares me though."

"Why?"

"What happens if the boat hits something and sinks like the Titanic; there is no saving us after that. Literally no one is coming to save us. I believe that we aren't alone in this universe out there somewhere there are others they could be far, but they also could be close by and we just don't know it. Which means they could help us out if we needed it"

" I see your point, but I would still choose to go on the boat."

"What if there were a zombie apocalypse? I think I know what you would answer and I think I would answer the same thing."

"Okay if you really think so on three you say what I'm thinking and I will too."

"Okay."

"One two three."

"Underground bunker" We said in unison.

"It's the smart thing to do. If you build an underground bunker you could stock years and years worth of nonperishable foods and water and hopefully by the time you start running out of food and water someone will have found a cure and the apocalypse will be over, but that's just wishful thinking." Olive said.

"I was going to say what person in their right minds would spend time creating a cure for that when you're on the run from zombies. The only time I would imagine someone actually working on a cure is if the science lab is in an underground bunker then I would assume that it would be created, but if the scientists are on the run from zombies I don't think so."

"Okay I'm tired I think I'm going to head to bed. Night aunt Mick."

"Good night I think I'm going to go sleep too. I've had an exhausting day." The next morning I decided that I would go and talk to Lourdes before heading to work. After thinking about her offer I decided that it wouldn't be too bad to have dinner with them. As I turned onto their street I saw the both of them by the door. It seemed like Jared was heading for work and they were saying goodbye. They were both leaning in to kiss when I turned around. Unfortunately I moved to fast and tripped over my own feet I fell face first on the floor. Just when I was about to get up, hoping that they didn't hear or see me, I felt like I was getting dizzy. That's when everything felt different. I opened my eyes and got up startled.

"Hey are you okay?" I looked over to my side; Jared was sitting up right beside me. I took the sheets off myself and saw my stomach; I looked pregnant. I looked around and tried to take in my surroundings. I noticed I was still breathing very hard, so I tried to relax and breathe normally.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just had a really strange dream."

"Do you want to talk about?"

"Have you ever had dreams that seem so real. You feel like your living in them?"

"After you disappeared I used to get a lot of those. They were always the same. You and I got married and we lived our lives together with our kids. I continued to get them even after I married Lourdes, just not as often usually they happened around the anniversary of your disappearance. I get what you mean they always felt so real."

"In the dream I woke up in my bed at Ben's house. You were still married to Lourdes and I wasn't pregnant with Evie. I lived three days in that dream and it was the hardest three days of my life. I gave you the engagement ring back and I tried to move on from you. It all felt so real. I'm just happy that it wasn't."

"What brought this on? Have you been thinking about that lately?"

"Not necessarily. The other day when I went to my dad's we had a conversation about me feeling like my life was a dream because it felt unreal that I was this happy and nothing's gone wrong. I guess this was my brain's way of showing me what would have happened if I wasn't pregnant with Evie and if we hadn't gotten back together."

"Well our lives together and our happiness is just as real Olive's competitiveness when she plays games." He said trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha she is really competitive. That's why I can never play anything with her I can get just as competitive too."

"What exactly happened in that dream?"

"When I gave you the engagement ring we had a conversation that made me realize some things."

"Which were?"

"We talked about our relationship and I said that I was jealous of Lourdes. She was married to you and she got to spend the rest of her life with you, which is what I wanted and what I thought would happen when the plane landed. I realize now that the reason I said that in my dream was because those were my feelings in real life. I was jealous of the fact that she got to live the life that was supposed to be mine, but at the same time wasn't. That's when you told me that I shouldn't be jealous because had the plane not disappeared and we had gotten married your life with me would have been better than the one you had with Lourdes."

"Wow I know it was dream and all, but I couldn't have said it better myself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he, or the other me, was right our life together is better than the one I had with Lourdes. I love you Mick you're all I ever wanted. I thought that Lourdes was the one after you disappeared, but I was wrong. I'm much happier now than I was before. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that I wasn't happy then because I was, but it felt like I was missing something from my life, that thing being you. There's just something about you that lights up my world. You make living life more enjoyable and an adventure."

"I feel the same way."

"Well I'm glad we're on the same page I would have been a little worried there if we weren't since you know we're engaged."

"You're so funny. Keep it up and you never know I might just leave you." I joked around.

"No you wouldn't, I would have to do something much worse than that for you to leave me and you would miss me too much."

"You've got a point there."

"Alright it's the middle of the night let's go back to bed. We need to get up early tomorrow morning."

"Do we have to? We could just call in sick and stay in bed all day."

"That is a tempting offer, but we both know Riojas would flip if we did that to him."

"I know."


	20. What Comes Next

"This is probably the most boring thing that comes with being a detective." I said to Jared

"That and the paperwork."

"The last time we did this we were sitting in the car for almost six hours." We were on yet another drug bust case. The undercover gave us the all clear to stake out near the location since the drugs are being delivered tonight.

"Well this time it's not any better."

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"I told you not to come. I could have gotten someone else to come with me."

"I know, but I didn't want to be stuck at the precinct doing more paperwork. I feel like I've been doing that a lot lately. I needed a break."

"If you don't think you can stick it out let me know, don't keep it to yourself."

"What makes you think I wouldn't say anything?"

"Because I know you Mick you're more of a suffer in silence type. You would rather stay there quiet than tell me, so that I won't make you go home. Tell me and I'll have someone cover for you. We have a long night ahead of us."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay." I decided to change the subject to something that has been on my mind lately.

"Do you want to have more kids after Evie?"

"Yeah I do. What about you?"

"I do too. My dad decided to bring up the subject when I saw him. He wants us to have more kids soon that way he can have more grandchildren since Ben and Grace are done by the looks of it."

"Really?"

"Yeah and he wasn't subtle about it either. He said something along the lines of not getting any younger and that he would like to get to know all of his grandkids before he passes."

"What did you say to that?"

"I told him to let us enjoy having Evie first and then he'll get more grandkids."

"He really wants us to have more kids and our first one isn't even here yet."

"Yeah he does. Me on other hand would like to wait a little bit before we have another one. Besides I want to cherish all the time we have with Evie as a baby. I also told him that he should let us get married first before having more kids."

"Talking about getting married. Shouldn't we start planning that? Evie is due in 4 or 5 months."

"Yeah we probably should. Olive wanted me to start planning a long time ago that way she could help me out with my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. We could have the wedding in August. That way the temperature will be nice to have the ceremony and reception outside."

"I don't know about you, but I want a small wedding with friends and family nothing too big. What about you?"

"Do you know me? I'm not the kind of person to throw a big party we all know I'm not a big fan of that. A small wedding sounds perfect to me. We can have the ceremony in a garden or anywhere as long as it's outside that's my only request."

"How are we going to involve Evie in the wedding, since she'll only be a month old?"

"I didn't even think about that. I guess we could have her in a little wooden wagon. I don't know or we can come up with other ideas. If we can't think of anything than we can go with the wagon idea. We could decorate it nicely and have Olive bring her in."

"That's not a bad idea. Have you chosen your bridesmaids yet?"

"Yeah I have. I'm going to have Olive and Grace be my bridesmaids. Since we're on the topic we need to talk about something."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Lourdes."

"Oh."

"Yeah. What do we do? I don't think I could have her as one of my bridesmaids I feel like that would be too awkward since you know, but I don't want to leave her out of this. We've been best friends since we were little kids it just feels wrong not inviting her. What do you think?"

"I think that we should invite her. Whether she decides to come or not will totally be up to her, but at least we know we reached out to her and gave her an invitation. I have nothing against inviting her if that's what you were afraid of."

"That had a little bit to do with my indecision, but I honestly didn't know if it was the right thing to do. I'm over it I promise, but it kind of is my fault that you two got a divorce. I just didn't want to invite her and let it be a constant reminder of that."

"Like I said I think that we should. If what you told me is true and she really is happy for us then she'll show up. After Evie passed away you became the only best friend she had left I don't think that she would want to miss your special day."

"Yeah I guess. I'll put her on the list then."

"Okay. Now back to the planning because we only have a few short months left." We continued to talk about what we were going to do for the wedding. Even though this was going to be a small celebration there is still a lot of things we need to plan and get done. That's where I'm hoping Olive will be willing to help and I know she will be.

"Who would have thought that after everything we've been through we'd actually get the chance to get married."

"We deserve it. I can't wait to start our lives together."

"Yeah we do. Alright let's change the subject before I start crying happy tears. The hormones have made me extra emotional lately. Since the ceremony is going to be outside it seems only right to hold the reception outside too. Should we do a tent or no tent?"

"It will depend on the weather for the day we choose. Unfortunately it's so far away that we can't even check. I guess we'll have to play it safe and use a tent."

"Should we have it mid- august or the end of august?"

"Whenever you want to have it is fine with me?"

"The end of august it is."

"You know we could skip that wedding and just elope right that could be an option too?"

"Really?"

"I honestly wouldn't mind doing it. All I want is to be with you and have you officially be my wife."

"I don't mind the idea either."

"But.."

"But we both know we can't do that to our families. This day is just as much ours as it is theirs. They've been waiting a long time to see us get married and I would hate to take this away from them and even though I'm not one for big celebrations I have dreamt of this day since I decided to marry you. Every girl deserves her fairytale wedding and just think about what your mom would say if we eloped?"

"My mom; I didn't even think about her reaction. She would not be impressed with us to say the least, but you're right. I've been waiting to marry you since before I even proposed to you. I want to be able to see you in you're beautiful dress walking down the aisle." my stomach chose that moment to remind me that i hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and since I had a light breakfast today, so I'm really hungry.

"Alright I'm starting to get hungry do you think you could go and get us lunch."

"Anything in mind?"

"I think I saw a deli around the corner on our way here. I'm in the mood for a sandwich."

"Okay. I'll be back soon."

"I'll call you if anything changes, but I seriously doubt it will." Jared nodded at me and walked away from the car. I turned back to watching the entrance of the building. Fifteen minutes later the car door opened and someone who wasn't Jared came into to the car.

"Zeke, what are you doing here?"

"I was talking a walk to clear my mind and I saw you sitting in here by yourself."

"Why are you really here? I know your not telling me the truth."

"Why would you think that?"

"How about the fact that we are really far from Ben's house; which, if I have to remind you, is where your currently staying. So I'm going to repeat my question, what are you doing here and tell me the truth because I'll know if your lying."

"Fine I had a calling and I wanted to talk to you about it. I was hoping you could help me figure out what it means."

"How did you find me?"

"I don't know ever since the cave I always have this feeling that I know where to find you."

"So your telling me that a feeling led you to me?"

"Yeah I know that sounds crazy."

"What did the calling say?"

"Save him."

"What could that possibly mean?"

"I don't know. That's where I was hoping you could help me out."

"Jared's going to be back soon and I'm in the middle of a case. I'll stop by tomorrow and we can try and figure this out with Ben."

"Okay." I kicked zeke out just in time because a few minutes later Jared came into the car with a bag in hand.

"Did I miss anything interesting?" I didn't know if I should tell him about Zeke's visit, but I figured I should keep it to myself until we find answers.

"Nope nothing interesting. Unless you count people walking their dogs as interesting."

"Yeah no. Here's your sandwich." he reached into the bag and pulled out my food and handed it to me.

"Thank you."

"And your water."

"Thanks." We ate in comfortable silence. The rest of the day was uneventful. Surprisingly I was able to get through the day without being too uncomfortable. Towards the end of the day we were able to bust the drug dealers and call it a night. The next morning I tried to get up early and leave the house before Jared got up and got ready for the day. I shook him gently hoping that he would wake up, but unfortunately it didn't work. So I tried a different tactic. I placed kisses all over his face and left his lips for last. The moment I properly kissed him. He started waking up. He reached up and brought me into his arms while kissing me back.

"That's a great way to start off the morning." he said after we pulled away.

"I bet. I tried to wake you up, but you weren't budging so I decided to try a different way."

"Is it time for us to go already? It feels like it's much earlier than usual."

"No it's not time yet, but you'll be driving to work by yourself today. I have to go see ben before work."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah everything's fine. I have to go I'll see you at the precinct."

"Okay. Drive safe."

"I will." We shared a kiss and I left. I got to Ben's house and walked right in. I guess zeke told him that I was coming if they left the door open.

"Hello. Ben. Zeke."

"We're in here" I walked into the kitchen following Ben's voice.

"Morning." Ben said

"Hey" I responded back. "I'm assuming Zeke filled you in on his calling."

"Yeah he did and I'm just as stumped as you guys."

"What could it possibly mean. The last time I had a calling my objective was to find you and I didn't even know who I was looking for the entire time. The calling said save him, but what if we don't find this person in time to save him. What happens then?" Zeke said

"We still don't know how these callings work. It's been 3 months since we've been back and we still don't have any answers. so to answer your question I don't know what will happen if we don't find him in time." Ben said

"What if the person you need to save is one of us?" I said

"Like from the plane?" Zeke responded.

"Something like that or maybe someone else." I said.

"You mean someone like Zeke?" ben asked

"I mean why not. Cal had a calling that led him to Zeke. What if zeke is having a calling that will help him save someone else whose come back." I said

"There is a big possibility of that. If Zeke came back there is no denying that it could happen again." Ben said.

"But if it is someone knew how do we find him?" Zeke asked.

"The same way you found me and Cal found you. We wait. We wait for the callings to tell you where to go." I said.

"And once they do we go and find whoever you're supposed to save." Ben said.

"At least we've made some progress. We have a plan and for now we just wait." Zeke said.

"Okay I need to get to work. Call me if anything changes." I drove to work wondering what the callings had in store for us next. We never knew what to expect. Hopefully it won't be something that will get us into trouble. We've been lucky recently, but who knows how long our luck will last.

"Hey can I talk to you for a second?" I asked Jared after I walked into the precinct. I decided that since we now have a plan on how to deal with this new calling it would be okay to tell Jared what's going on.

"Yeah just give me one minute. I just need to finish this report and then I'm all yours."

"I'll be at my desk come get me once you're done."

"Okay." I walked to my desk and turned on my computer.

"Stone." I looked up and saw Riojas motioning me into his office. I got up and walked in.

"There's a new case that I want you to work on."

"What's the case?"

"A women went missing last night. The last place she was seen was at a restaurant. She went out to dinner with her friends and walked home; she hasn't been seen since. We got a call from her sister this morning saying that she didn't come home last night. I want you to be the lead detective on this case."

"Okay I'll get right on it." I grabbed the file with the information of the case and walked out of the office. I walked back to my desk and set the file down.

"Hey what do you got there?"

"Missing persons case? A women went missing last night after she had dinner with some friends and Riojas put me as lead detective on the case."

"If you need any help let me know. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Not here let's go somewhere more private." We walked to a more secluded corner of the precinct.

"What's going on?"

"I went to Ben's house this morning for a meeting. Zeke got a calling yesterday."

"He did?"

"Yeah he heard the words save him but we're not sure who he's supposed to save."

"Did he get any images of who the person might be or just words?"

"He just heard the words and that was it. The callings will always make it hard for us to figure out what they want us to do."

"That doesnt help at all."

"I know it doesn't, but we have an idea and a plan."

"Im all ears."

"We think that the person he's supposed to save could possibly be one of us."

"A passenger?"

"Maybe, but we were thinking more along the lines of someone like Zeke. A person who was brought back. We think that maybe someone was brought back and Zeke needs to help him."

"Okay it's a good idea, but how are you supposed to find him?"

"The same way Cal found Zeke and Zeke found me. The callings. Hopefully the callings will be able to give Zeke clues on where to find this person."

"And what happens if he doesn't find this person."

"That's the other thing we were talking about. We're not sure what the consequences will be if we fail the calling and that's not something we're willing to find out."

"Well whenever you find out where he is be careful."

"Wait your not going to tell me that you're going to go with me. Who are you and what have you done with my fiancee?"

"What's so surprising about what I said?"

"Since I told you I was pregnant you've done everything possible to keep me safe from any danger that could come my way. So you not asking to come with me is a little weird?"

"I trust you and I know that Ben and Zeke will keep you safe. I know that you guys have to do this on your own so I wont get in the way."

"Thank you I appreciate it and you've never been in the way, so don't think that."

"I know it's just hard sometimes. You guys include me in everything you do, but I always feel like I'm an outsider and I know that I am, I just try and pretend that I'm not."

"I'm sorry. It's been hard for all of us dealing with this. I never thought of how hard it would be for you and I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong."

"I love you. So much."

"I love you too."

"I have a missing person to go find so I'm going to go and get started on that." This was the first case that I got to work on my own. Usually I have Jared helping me, but not this time. Finding this woman won't be easy, but I know I can do it. First things first I need to read the file. I found out pretty basic information on her; like her name, her date of birth, where she currently lives, her family members, friends, her job and a few other things. Her name is Olivia Wilson. The first place I started my search was her social media. Nothing looked suspicious on her twitter or facebook, but that wasn't the case on her instagram. She had posted a picture of her and her friends the night of her disappearance. She tagged the restaurant where she had dinner and all her friends that were with her that night. At first glance there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in the picture, but it wasn't until I took a really good look that I found something. There was someone staring at Olivia and her friends a few tables away. I wasn't able to see the person's entire face since they were using the menu to cover it. I decided to go to the restaurant where Olivia had dinner; ask around and then talk to her friends who she had dinner with hopefully I'll have some information that will help me find Olivia by the end of it. I went home later that night exhausted. I was able to find out new information that could help me out a little, but I still had a lot to go. Jared finished work before me, but it didn't matter since we took separate cars to work.

"Hey how was the rest of your day?" Jared said.

"Exhausting." I handed him the file with Olivia's case. "I went to the restaurant that Olivia was at the night of her disappearance. I asked around to see if anyone working there were working the night she was having dinner. I got lucky there was one person unfortunately she didn't know more information than what i already knew. I spoke with her friends too."

"What did you find out?"

"Her friends and her encountered a man at the restaurant that was interested in Olivia. He asked her if she would be interested in going out on a date with him and she said no. her friends said that the man didn't look happy with her answer, but walked away anyway. I found a person staring at them in the background of Olivia's picture on instagram. When I showed them the photo they weren't one hundred percent sure but they think that the person staring at them in the was the guy that went up to their table. Tomorrow I'll go through the security footage of the restaurant the night of Olivia was there and I'll see if I can find out what his name is and anything on him."

"It looks like you had a busy day and an even busier day tomorrow."

"Yeah I know. Which is why I need to get as much rest as possible."

"Well come to bed then."

"Okay." I took off my shoes and changed out of my clothes and into my sleep shorts and t-shirt. I climbed into bed and put my head on Jared's chest. I listened to his heartbeat and within minutes I had fallen asleep. It was rare for me to get a calling while I was sleeping, but it has happened before. So it didn't surprise me when I got a calling while I slept. I heard the calling tell me that time's running out. I woke up and was confused about its meaning. I didn't want to wake Jared up and tell him since it would only worry him. I started thinking about what it could possibly mean. There is a possibility the calling is in regards to the case I'm working on. The callings have helped me solve cases in the past, so if it is about the case than I need to find Olivia quickly before something happens to her.


	21. Contact

I went into to work the next day determined to find Olivia before anything happened to her. I got someone to run facial recognition on the suspect. Hopefully they'll be able to find out who he is, so that I can try and find any location where he would be keeping Olivia. I vowed never to fail a calling ever again. After I couldn't stop Harvey from jumping I didn't want anyone else to die from my failures. To my luck they were able to find out the name that belonged to the man in the picture. His name is Noah Taylor he spent some time in prison back in 2012 for assault and battery. Finding all of this gave me even more motivation to find Olivia. If this guy was the one who kidnapped her then I'm afraid to even think about what she's going through right now. I got to work immediately and started looking for any properties he may own. Luckily for me I had already found out what car he had the day of Olivia's disappearance thanks to the cameras in the parking lot of the restaurant. I tracked the car down, but was hit with a dead end. He must have switched cars, but unfortunately for me he must have borrowed someone else's car because there were no reports of any stolen cars in the area.

"Stone." Riojas called out to me as he walked over to my desk.

"Yeah"

"Any updates on the case I gave you?"

"I have a possible suspect. He was the only other person who had contact with Olivia the night she disappeared, other than her friends. I spoke to all of her friends and they all told me the same thing about that night. This guy came up to Olivia while they were having dinner asked her out on a date she turned him down and he didn't seem to like that she said no. I was able to get a facial recognition using a picture that Olivia posted; his name is Noah Taylor. The last photo Olivia posted on her instagram you can see that this guy was staring at her in the background. According to her friends the picture was taken after he went up to her."

"Have you been able to find him?"

"Not yet. I was able to track down his car to a gas station. That's when he abandoned it and started walking to wherever he went next. I was able to get access to the cameras in the area, but I lost him at one point since he entered an area where there were no cameras. I think that if he is the one who kidnapped Olivia he either borrowed someone's car or had help. Im currently looking through his profile to see if he has any properties that he could be hiding her at. While i was looking at his sheet I saw that he had been previously arrested in 2012 on an assault and battery charge. I have reason to believe that if he does have Olivia she may be in serious danger."

"Look through to see what else you can find on him. Keep me updated on anything new that you find."

"Okay." he walked away and left me to do my work. We put out an alert for other precincts to keep an eye out for Noah. So far no one has seen him. I did find that he was renting out an apartment here in the city. I got some officers to check it out, but they found the home empty. Luckily for me I found the address to his parents house. I thought it would be best if I took the trip down to his parent's. I grabbed my phone and keys and headed out.

"Hey are you heading home?" Jared said when he saw me approach with my car keys.

"No I'm not. Are you doing anything?"

"Just some paperwork, but that can wait what's up?"

"I found the address to my suspect's parents house. I'm going there right now to see if they've seen him or know where he could be. I was wondering if you wanted to come with."

"Yeah I'll come."

"Okay great." he grabbed his jacket and phone and we walked to my car. "Here you can drive." I said as I threw him my car keys. The drive to the house wasn't going to take too long. I spent the entire ride catching him up on what I've found so far.

"By the way I had a calling last night."

"You did. What was it?"

"It told me that time's running out."

"Do you think that your having a calling about the person Zeke needs to save?"

"It would be possible since it has happened, but I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I have this weird feeling that it's about my case."

"Let's say it is. That means that Olivia is in serious danger."

"Yeah. I have to find her and fast before something really bad happens to her."

"Hopefully the Noah's parents will have some insight on his whereabouts."

"If not finding her will take longer and time is a luxury we don't have right now." We arrived at the house and knocked at the door. I noticed that there were no cars in the driveway. I'm really hoping that there's someone inside. We waited to see if anyone came to the door and after a few minutes and another knock on the door a women opened up.

"Hello can I help you with something?"

"Yes you could actually. Im detective Stone this is my partner detective Vasquez. We were wondering if we could talk to you about your son."

"Did something happen? Is he okay?"

"We should have this conversation inside where there's a little more privacy. May we come in?"

"Yes of course." She opened the door wide enough to let us in. "We can sit in the dining room follow me." We followed her to the room and sat down across from her. "What's going on?"

"Mrs. Taylor your son is a main suspect for a kidnapping case."

"What?"

"A woman went missing a few nights ago and she hasn't been seen since. The night of her disappearance she was eating dinner and your son was there at that same restaurant. He went up to the table she was sitting at with her friends and asked her out on a date. She rejected him and there are witnesses that have said he did not look at all pleased with her answer. We've found a photo of that night that was taken after the confrontation and he has been identified as the person who was staring at her from a few tables away. We checked his file and we saw that he has had a past with the police. He got arrested over an assault and battery case."

"My son has always had problems controlling his anger. Through the years we've tried to get him help, but he refuses."

"Has he made any contact with you in the past few days?"

"No he hasn't. I haven't heard from him in weeks. He always does that."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He'll call every once in a while and disappear for weeks."

"Do you know where he would be?"

"No I have no idea. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"Is your husband home?"

"No he's at work."

"Do you know if he would know anything that could help us?"

"Not that I know of. As far as I know he knows as much as I do. Him and our son didn't have the best relationship, but I'll ask him when he gets home."

"Here's my card if your son contacts you or your husband knows something please give me a call. Thank you for your help."

"No problem. I'll let you out." We followed her back to the front door and walked out. Once we were in the car we talked.

"I can't believe that I got nothing out of that. I was really hoping they could help."

"Maybe they still can. If he contacts them then they'll call."

"For now I'll just have to keep looking and hope that he makes contact with them." We arrived back at the precinct. I sat down in my chair and sighed in frustration. How could it be possible that I get close to finding an answer, but don't get anything. I don't know how much time I have left and I don't want to fail this calling. I already have to be worried about Zeke's calling and now I have my own problems too. A few hours later I wasn't faring any better than I was before. Everything that I've found has hit a dead end. He doesn't even have any social media that could help me find out any of his close friends or any possible places he may be. The phone on my desk rang and I picked it up.

"Hello 129th precinct this is detective Stone speaking."

"Detective Stone this is Mrs. Taylor." I perked up at the name. Hopefully she has something that will turn my day around.

"Mrs. Taylor how can I help you?"

"He made contact with me. Noah called me a few minutes ago."

"Okay I'll be on my way"

"Okay" I hung up the phone, grabbed my phone and jacket. I walked over to Jared.

"Hey Noah made contact with his mom. I told her we would head over there."

"Okay lets go." I didn't even notice that he didn't give me my car keys back until he pulled them out of his pocket just now. We arrived rather quickly much quicker than last time, but that's because the traffic from earlier died down.

"Come in." said Mrs. taylor the minute she opened the door we walked in and she closed the door behind us. We walked back to where we were sitting earlier.

"Move and I shoot." We both looked to the side wall in the dining room and saw that Noah was standing right there with a gun pointed at us. "Grab your guns and kick them towards me. If you even try and shoot I will shoot her." He said while pointing the gun at me. "And by the looks of it I'll be killing two people at once so I would be really careful with what you do." We both put our guns on the floor and kicked them towards him.

"Please don't hurt them." Mrs. taylor said to her son. She turned to us and tried to explain herself to us. "I'm so sorry I didn't want to do this, but he threatened to kill me if I didn't."

"Noah you don't know what you're doing? You need to let us go or you're going to be in more trouble than you already are. You don't have to do this." Jared said.

"That's where you're wrong. I'm not going to be in any trouble. See I'm going to take all three of you with me. Only you three know that I was even here in the first place. No one is going to know where to find me. Grab your keys your driving." he said to Jared. "Now lets go." we followed him out and got in the car. We followed his directions until we ended up at an abandoned warehouse. "Give me the keys." he said while pointing the gun again. Jared threw him the keys without question. He brought us into a room and put us all in he locked the door and I could hear his footsteps while he was walking away.

"What are we going to do?" Mrs. taylor said.

"We still have our phones." I said looking at jared. We both took them out, but to our disappointment there was no service in the area we were in.

"Great nothing." Jared said.

"Don't worry we'll find a way to get out." I had an idea, but I didn't know if it would work. In that moment we hear footsteps coming back towards the door. "Put your phone away it's the only thing we have left that we can use we can't risk him finding them." The door opened and he put someone else inside the room my luck might be turning yet. He decided to throw Olivia in the same room as us.

"Is your name olivia?"

"Yes it is, who are you?"

"My names Michaela Stone I'm a detective. I was assigned your case. I've been looking for you for a few days now. Are you okay?"

"Other than a few scrapes I'm fine, thankfully. How did you end up here if you're a detective?"

"We were tricked which reminds me." I turned to Mrs. taylor. "What happened after we left?"

"Nothing at first. I got a call after an hour of you leaving. I tried to see where he was and he caught on to me. It didn't help that he had people watching both me and my husband. He didn't want us talking to the police. He hung up the phone and then a few hours later he popped up on my doorstep and you know what happened next."

"Why didn't you call after he called you?"

"I didn't know if I could. He's my only son I didn't want to see him behind bars again, but I knew that calling you was the right thing to do. I was struggling with myself, by the time I finally decided to call you he was at my doorstep. I'm so sorry had I called you the minute he hung up on me we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"Now we just have to figure out how to get out. We don't have our guns or the car keys and we're miles away from the city." I pulled him off to the side and spoke quietly so that Olivia and Mrs. Taylor didn't hear what i was saying.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work."

"I'll take anything I can get, what is it?"

"I've let the callings tell me what to do and I've always trusted them, what if I try and see if I can get them to listen to me."

"You mean like talk to them."

"Yeah except not actually talk. The voices are always in my head I'll just try and talk to them and see what happens. I mean what do we have to lose."

"I guess try it." I smiled at him and we walked back to the rest of our group. I didn't know what to say to the callings. I've never had to talk to them, but I'm hoping this works. If you can hear me please help me. I've never asked anything of you until now. Contact Zeke or Ben and lead them to my location. Please whatever you are, you're my only hope of getting out of here alive. I guess I'll never know if they actually are listening unless Zeke and Ben show up and that's if they show up.

"What time is it?" I hear Mrs. taylor ask. I pulled out my phone and checked.

"It's ten thirty pm." I responded to her.

"My husband must be worried sick." She said

"Don't worry we'll be out of here soon." I said

"Are you sure of that?" Olivia asked.

"I hope so. By now our boss will have noticed we didn't come back. He knows that we're aren't the kind of people to leave work without telling him. He probably has people looking for us."

"Hopefully they'll find us soon I've been here for a few days and I just want to go home and see my family." I grabbed her shoulders gently and tried to reassure her.

"Don't worry you will see your family again and you will leave this place that I can assure you. Nothing is going to happen to any of us." I said facing Jared and Mrs. Taylor. In that moment we heard screaming coming from somewhere in the warehouse.

"Someone's here." Jared said. We heard a voice nearby and immediately recognized it as our captain's voice.

"Riojas." We both said facing each other. We walked over to the door and started screaming for him to come near. The door opened and none other than Riojas was on the other side of it.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah we're fine."

"Is everyone else okay?" He said looking at Olivia and Mrs. taylor.

"Yeah we're okay." They both said.

"Okay follow me I'll get you out of here." We followed him out of the warehouse. Since Olivia had been here the longest she was taken to get checked up. Mrs. taylor was taken to a cop who would take her home and Jared and I filled Riojas in on what happened.

"How did you find us?" I asked him.

"We had some help." He motioned for one of the officers and a minute later he came back with Ben and Zeke. Ben pulled me into a really big hug the minute he reached me.

"I'll give you guys some privacy." Riojas said.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine. We all are. How did you know where to find me?"

"We both got the same calling and it lead us to you." Zeke said.

"I can't believe it actually worked." Both Ben and Zeke looked at me with confused expressions except for Jared who knew exactly what I was talking about.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked me.

"I asked the callings to lead you to me. I thought I would give it a chance since I had nothing to lose and it worked. I wasn't sure if it would."

"I didn't know we could do that." Zeke said.

"Yeah neither did I until now." I was going to say something else, but instead I Iet out a big yawn.

"Alright let's get you home." Jared said

"Yeah I'm so exhausted. How did you guys get here? Did you bring your own car or hitched a ride?"

"We hitched a ride. We took a train to the precinct since Grace had the car." Ben responded back.

"Okay let me go ask one of the officers to get our keys from the suspect and then we can head home." Jared said. He came back a few minutes later with the car keys in hand. "Alright let's go." All four of us walked to where the car was parked and got in. To get to the warehouse we had driven an hour and a half; we were all the way on Long Island.

"Shit." I said.

"What, what's wrong?" Jared asked worried that there was something wrong with me.

"We forgot to tell Riojas that we were leaving. He's probably wondering where we went."

"Don't worry about that I made sure to tell him before I came back to you guys."

"Okay good." I looked behind me and saw that somehow along the ride both Ben and Zeke fell asleep. Ben's head was on top of Zeke's head and Zeke's head was resting on Ben's shoulder. I needed something to lighten up today after everything that happened. I took out my phone and started taking picture's these were perfect to use for leverage when I'll need a favor.

"What are you doing?" Jared asked me.

"Taking pictures."

"Pictures of what?"

"Why don't you take a look for yourself?" I showed him the pictures on my phone and he laughed at the sight. "I needed something to cheer me up. Today has put a heavy weight on me."

"How are you doing?"

"Im good."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I'm a little scarred. I was used as leverage against you today. I knew that nothing would happen to me, there's no way you would have let that happen, but I still felt scared for my life and the life of our child."

"It's over you don't have to worry about it anymore. You're safe and that's all that matters. Like you said I will never let anything happen to you. I would rather put my life on the line if it meant saving you."

"Thank you. For everything you do and have done for me. I don't know where I would be without you."

"I will always be there for you no matter what." He continued driving the rest of the drive was silent the only thing distracting me were our hands that were intertwined I was making small circles on Jared's hand with my thumb. The next morning I went into work and finished up the paperwork for the case I was assigned. Since the culprit was found and detained there was no need to keep me on as the lead. I was able to see Olivia, she came in for questioning. I asked her about everything that happened the minute she walked into that restaurant. I could tell some parts were harder to talk about than others so I made sure not to push her to hard. I felt proud that I was able to bring her home and I also felt relieved that I got to her just in time. Now the only thing that is worrying me is Zeke's calling. Since that day he hasn't gotten another one, but I know he will soon. We've been keeping a close eye on the news just in case the person we need to find is found, but so far there hasn't been anything. For now it's just a waiting game, a very boring one.


	22. Dress Shopping

We had a normal rest of the week, I had been given other cases to work on, but nothing too big like Olivia's case. Noah Taylor is currently still being detained; his trial was set to begin in the upcoming week. From what I've heard he's looking at 5 or more years in prison for second degree kidnapping; he would have gotten less if he didn't already have a criminal record. I am currently on my way to go pick up Cal from Grace. I decided to help them out and take care of him while they both are at work.

"Hey Mick." Grace greeted me with a big hug and let me into the house.

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm great. How are you?"

"Other than a little exhausted I'm doing good. I've had a long week."

"I heard what happened. Ben told me everything after he got back from rescuing you. I can't imagine what you must have been going through that day."

"Yeah it definitely left me a little traumatized, but I'm okay now."

"That's great to hear. I should probably head to work we have a big party we're catering for today and I should probably go and get started." she went to the bottom of the steps and called out for Cal. "Cal?"

"Yeah." I heard him respond from somewhere upstairs, most likely his room.

"Aunt Mick is here. Why don't you pack up your things and come downstairs."

"Okay. I'll be right down." Grace walked back to the living room and sat next to me on the couch.

"Make sure he's done all of his homework. He started it, but he never got a chance to finish it since I made lunch. I don't think he has much left."

"Okay." I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I looked up to see Cal with his backpack in hand.

"Hi aunt Mick." Cal said

"Hey buddy. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah I'm all set."

"Alright let's head out." I got up and grabbed my jacket, which I had taken off.

"Ben is going to get out earlier than me so he'll come by later around 5 to go and pick him up." Grace said

"Okay that sounds good." I responded. "Bye I'll see you soon."

"Bye take care of yourself." Grace said.

"I will and you too." I responded back to her.

"Bye mom." Cal said. Him and Grace shared a hug and then Grace placed a kiss on Cal's forehead.

"Bye honey. Make sure to finish your homework and have fun with your aunt Mick."

"I will." We both walked out of the house and got in my car.

"We'll go to my house first so you can finish your homework. I'll make you a snack and then we can figure out what to eat for dinner."

"Do I have to do my homework?"

"Yes you do."

"Did you do your homework when you were in school?"

"Yes I did actually, so you're going to do yours too."

"Fine. I'm not going to fight a losing battle."

"That's right." We drove in a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride with only the radio making noise in the car.

"Alright go do your homework. The sooner you get it started the sooner you'll finish. Plus your mom told me that you already started it at home." I said after we settled into the dining room. I watched him open up his backpack and take out his work. "Do you want a snack while you work?"

"Sure what do you have?"

"We got fruits, chips, crackers, pretty much everything."

"Do you have grapes?"

"Yeah we do. I'll go get you a bowl of them I'll be right back." I grabbed the grapes and washed them and put them in the bowl. "Here you go. If you want anything else let me know."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome. I'm just going to do some house work if you need me I'll be in the kitchen."

"Okay." We had been meaning to reorganize some of the food cabinets. They tend to get really disorganized after a few weeks, since we keep taking food out and putting it back in. Its something I've wanted to do for a while now, but with everything going on I haven't been able to. Organizing is oddly one of the few activities that relaxes me. Organizing is something I like to do which is why when everything gets so disorganized it starts to bother me. I finished 30 minutes later and decided to clear out the refrigerator. There wasn't much to throw out, but there were a few things. By the time I heard Cal come into the kitchen it had already been an hour since I started my organization.

"Hey aunt Mick I finished."

"Great. Are you hungry? We can either eat now or later if your not hungry."

"I'm good for now, but I could go for another snack."

"Okay what do you want?"

"Do you have pretzels?"

"Yeah I'm pretty sure that we do have, but let me check." I opened up the snack cabinet and checked to see if I could find a bag of pretzels. My cravings have been all over the place lately so I make sure to have a little bit of everything. I bought a bag last week but I don't know if I already ate the entire thing, it wouldn't surprise me if I did, but it turns out that I didn't. Right at the back of the cabinet, I found the bag of pretzels. "Found them. Here." I said handing him the bag.

"Thanks."

"What do you want to do for now?"

"Do you still have the playstation my dad got while he was living with you at the old apartment?"

"Yeah we do. Jared set it up in the living room."

"Good I brought some of my video games with me. Do you want to play with me?"

"Sure why not, but a fair warning I'm not so good at playing video games."

"Don't worry I'll teach you how to play its simple."

"Okay let's go." It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but after thirty minutes of playing I was able to get the hang of the game. We played until four pm and then decided to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. "What are you in the mood to eat?" I asked Cal.

"I could eat chinese food. What about you?"

"Yeah I could go for chinese food too. It's been one of my five thousand cravings recently."

"Alright let's go." We went to the nearest chinese food place and got lots of food. I'm pretty sure they thought we were getting food for a whole family, but of course we weren't; it was just for the two of us.

"Do you want to eat it here or should we go back to my house?"

"Let's go back to your house, but can we make a quick pit stop first?"

"Yeah sure. Where do you want to go?"

"I was wondering if we could get some ice cream to complete our dinner?'

"Why not buddy. Do you have anywhere specific you want to go to?"

"Um I don't know, what about cold stone. I really like their ice cream."

"Okay we'll stop on the way back." We paid for our food and got back into the car. There aren't that many cold stone locations nearby, but we were lucky enough to have one. We went in and stood in line. The one thing I always hated about coldstone how busy it can get. It doesn't matter if we're in the middle of winter somehow they are busy year round. We finally got to the front and ordered our ice cream. Back at home we grabbed some plates and opened up all the food we got. "There's something that's been on my mind recently and I was going to ask your dad about it too."

"What is it?"

"You two are the only other people who could possibly understand the way I'm feeling because there's a chance that you feel the same thing. Jared and I were talking about going on vacation soon down to florida to visit his family. The only problem is that it would be easier and faster to take a plane. The thing is I'm not sure if I'm ready to get on a plane just yet. What about you?"

"I mean I haven't really thought about that much, but now that you mention it, I don't think I would be ready either."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I know that I will be able to one day, but today isn't that day."

"It's good to hear that I'm not the only one. After everything that we've been through from the last plane we took. I'm just a little skeptical about getting on another one."

"Don't worry aunt Mick I know that you'll be able to do it someday."

"Thanks buddy that means a lot." After a few minutes of eating I heard a knock at the door. "That must be your dad. I'll be right back." I got up and went to go and open the door for Ben.

"Hey." Ben said

"Hey come on in."

"How's Cal?"

"He's doing great we were just having dinner. You want to join us we've got plenty of food."

"Yeah sure. Olive is at her friend's house for the night, so why not."

"Go sit down I'll get you a plate."

"No you go and sit I'll get myself a plate. You go and eat your dinner."

"Okay. You know where to find them right."

"Yeah I'm pretty sure I was the one who put them away. As long as you haven't moved them, I'm pretty sure I know where they are."

"I didn't move them."

"Okay. You go and sit." I followed went back to the dining room.

"Where's my dad?"

"He went to go and grab a plate."

"Hey Cal." Ben said as he set his plate down on the table and sat down. He quickly kissed the top of Cal's head before grabbing some food and putting it on his plate.

"Hey dad. You're going to join us for dinner?"

"Yeah I am. How was your day?"

"It was great. Me and aunt Mick played video games."

"And he beat me everytime."

"Yeah well I've kind of become a pro at it."

"It sounds like you guys had a fun evening." Ben said

"Yeah we did." Cal said

"What about you, how was your day?" I asked Ben.

"Busy, I had a lecture appearance at a university today."

"That's good. Do you know if you will get back to teaching soon?"

"As of right now I don't know if there will be any openings for me this semester, but I hope I'll be able to start next semester."

"Hopefully." We spent the rest of dinner just talking about anything we could think of. It was a nice relaxing night, one which I haven't had for a little while. Life has been pretty crazy lately with work, wedding planning and planning for the baby's arrival. We are finally almost finished with the nursery Jared and I just have to put the finishing touches to it and it'll be ready. I was feeling extra tired today so I went to bed early. I stirred awake from someone putting a kiss on my forehead. I opened my eyes and was face to face with Jared.

"Hey." My voice sounded a little raspy from the fact that I had been asleep for a little while.

"Hey. You went to bed early?"

"Yeah I did. I was feeling a little tired and since I had nothing else to do I went to bed. What time is it?"

"It's almost midnight."

"I've been asleep for 3 hours. Your home later than usual. Big case?"

"Yeah and unfortunately it's not over yet. There still is a lot more to do before this case is finished." I tried to hold back the yawn I knew was coming, but I wasn't able to.

"Your tired go back to bed we can talk more in the morning."

"Okay. Good night I love you."

He chuckled and then responded back "I love you too." We quickly kissed, but it wasn't that long just a quick peck after that I was soundly asleep again.

A few days later…

"Ladies are you ready to go?" I said after walking into Ben's house. I had called Grace the night before and asked her if her and Olive wanted to go and look at bridesmaid dresses. They both excitedly agreed to come with me.

"Of course we are." Olive said

"She's been ready since early this morning." Grace said

"Hey can you blame a girl for being excited over dress shopping." Olive said.

"I mean she is Olive what else did we expect from her." I said.

"I guess that's true" Grace said.

"Hey." Olive responded back.

"What? Are you telling me that it's not true." Grace said

"No it is." She said

"Okay let's get going. I don't think we'll find the dresses we're looking for in the first store we go to and we have to drive all the way to Long island. So let's go." I said

"Yeah lets go." Olive said. She was the first one out the door. Her excitement clearly shown through the skip in her step as she walked out the door. We spent all morning looking at dresses in different stores but none really peaked our interest. It was around one o'clock that we decided to take a lunch break.

"I can't believe we still haven't found anything?" Olive said.

"Did you expect for us to find something so quickly?" I said.

"No, but I was kind of hoping we would at least have options to compare." She said.

"We'll find some dresses don't worry. We just have to keep looking." Grace said always the optimistic one I wish I had her energy right now.

"Yeah we will, but let's just take our time and enjoy our little break because I really need it." I said.

"Are you okay?" Grace asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yeah I'm okay just a little tired. Dress shopping has drained me a little." I said.

"If you want, we can finish this another day and go home?" Grace said

"No its okay if we don't finish this today who knows when I'll have a chance to do it." I responded back.

"Okay only if you're sure?" she said

"Yeah I'm sure." I said

"Speaking about being tired have you and Jared decided when you're going to go on vacation." she asked

"Yeah we're going in a couple of weeks. We just want to get some more work done at the precinct and get some more wedding stuff done and then we'll head down to Florida." I said

"So what are you guys going to do there?" Olive chimed in.

"I think we're just going to stay at his house down there and spend some time with his family." I said

"Are you going to do anything special?" Olive asked

"Like what?" I said

"I don't know have dinner on the beach or something?" She said

"As far as I know, no we aren't. We just want to spend most of our time relaxing. It's long overdue at this point." I said

"You guys deserve more than two weeks off with the amount of stress the both of you have from working so much." Grace said

"Yeah well Jared has worked more than me these last couple of weeks, out of the two of us he deserves it the most." I said

"You may not be working a lot at the precinct, but you're growing a human inside you. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as working just as hard." Olive said

"Yeah I guess it does." I responded back. An hour later we paid for our food and were heading back out on the dress hunt.

"You know that you haven't tried on any wedding dresses, right?" Olive said while we were on our way to the next dress store.

"I know" I responded back to her.

"Maybe you should look and see if you find anything you like and try it on?" She said

"Yeah I guess I can do that." I said

"You don't sound that enthusiastic?" Grace said

"I know I am, but I know that I won't look right in a dress right now. Since I'm pregnant and all that. Unfortunately, I won't have time to find a dress after the baby is born since it will be too close to the wedding day." I said

"You look amazing and you will look amazing in any wedding dress you try on." Grace said

"Thank you." I said

"I just find it odd" Olive said

"Find what odd?" I responded back

"I never pegged you for a person to care about the way they look. When I was younger, my dad always used to tell me stories about you whenever I was feeling down about the way I was dressed or the way my hair looked. He always used to tell me that you were never like the other girls you went to school with. You wouldn't spend money to make yourself look perfect like other girls, you would just be you and that always made me feel better." She explained

"He wasn't wrong I never did care, but every girl has a little insecurity about themselves I just didn't care to entertain it when I was younger, but now I feel like I'm more emotional lately and I just cant help and feel insecure about the way my body looks." I said

"Well aunt Mick in my opinion you look amazing. So don't think that you don't." Olive said

"Thank you that means a lot to me." I said

"You're welcome." She responded back. We continued our drive in comfortable silence. Luck seemed to be on our side with this next place. We found a bridesmaid dress that all three of us really liked. At first we couldn't find anything, but the dress we liked was like a buried treasure. We found it in a rack being covered by other dresses that filled up the rack. It was a light pink long strapless dress with a sweetheart cut neckline that was tight at the top and flowy at the bottom. Since we found their dress we thought why not look for my wedding dress. The first few that we found weren't terrible, but I just didn't feel like any of them were the one. Eventually we found a few that I liked I tried them on but I still didn't feel like they looked right for what I had in mind. I knew that I wouldn't find my dress in the first store I looked I mean life is never that easy; I guess for now I just keep on looking until I do find my dress.


End file.
